NDDC BOSS: SUSTAINABLE PEACE IN NIGER DELTA REQUIRES DEVELOPMENT, NOT SECURITY OPERATIONS ALONE
Dr Samuel Ogbuku highlights inclusive development, community participation and economic opportunities as essential foundations for lasting peace in the Niger Delta.
The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr Samuel Ogbuku, has declared that sustainable peace in the Niger Delta cannot be achieved through security operations alone, but through deliberate, inclusive and transformational development.
Ogbuku made the declaration while delivering the Distinguished Personality Lecture at the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS), Abuja, on the theme: “Peace Building Through Development: The Strategic Role of the NDDC in Stabilising the Niger Delta Region.”
Addressing participants at the Institute, including senior security officers, policymakers and strategic leaders, the NDDC boss said that the dominant approach to peace in the Niger Delta had, for decades, focused on security enforcement measures.
According to Ogbuku, under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda, the NDDC has shifted from transactional development to transformational development, moving from merely delivering projects to building trust, resilience and sustainable opportunities.
He lauded President Tinubu for giving the NDDC leadership the mandate to complete all ongoing projects and for getting the Commission to sign a performance bond, which guides its project delivery.
KA A-ATABA BRIDGE COMPLETED
The NDDC boss announced that the 1.2-kilometre Kaa-Ataba Bridge in Rivers State, linking Khana and Andoni Local Government Areas, had been completed and would be named President Tinubu Bridge.
Ogbuku noted that the NDDC launched a “Rewind to Rebirth” initiative to recalibrate engagement with Niger Delta stakeholders and the Commission’s overall intervention implementation plan.
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AS A PEACE-BUILDING TOOL
On the Commission’s peace-building approach, Ogbuku noted that peace thrives where people feel heard, respected and included.
He said that at its 2026 Partners for Sustainable Development Conference in Port Harcourt, the Commission presented a Stakeholder Document and introduced Community Monitoring Committees to make communities participants and owners, rather than spectators, in development.
He also stressed the need to harmonise development interventions to reduce conflict drivers, noting that duplication and perceived inequality fuel tension.
Through collaboration with the Ministry of Regional Development under Engr. Abubakar Momoh, the NDDC is working to harmonise regional development master plans under a National Policy on Regional Development.
PARTNERSHIPS TO ACCELERATE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Ogbuku explained that the Partners for Sustainable Development (PSD) Forum, established under the NDDC Act as a clearinghouse, remains a platform for synchronising development activities among agencies, state governments, local governments and development partners.
The NDDC boss said inter-agency collaboration had become inevitable because the region has different layers of development interventions.
He cited the 27-kilometre Ogbia-Nembe Road in Bayelsa State, which connects 14 communities with 99 culverts and 14 bridges, built through a partnership with Shell Petroleum Development Company.
He also highlighted the Memorandum of Understanding with NLNG for the Bonny Ring Road and the 3.65-kilometre Okrika-Borikiri Road, with three bridges in Rivers State.
YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES
On youth restiveness, he said the most important peace-building intervention was to make the legitimate economy more attractive than the illicit economy.
He explained that such alternatives could include farming, skills acquisition, business opportunities, access to finance or employment.
STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONAL GOVERNANCE
Ogbuku said the Commission had strengthened its corporate governance framework with measurable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and digitised its internal processes through e-procurement, digitisation of contract award letters and the Electronic Memo (e-Memo) platform.
He described digitalisation as more than technology, saying it represents institutional transformation.
He concluded that development should not merely respond to crises but prevent them, stressing that security and development mutually reinforce each other.
He called for shared responsibility for peace, urging traditional rulers to serve as peace ambassadors, youth and women's organisations to partner in monitoring projects, state and local governments to become co-implementers, and security institutions to see development agencies as partners in preventive security.
NISS COMMANDANT PRESENTS DISTINGUISHED PERSONALITY AWARD
The Commandant of the National Institute for Security Studies, Mr Joseph Odama, said the Distinguished Personality Lecture brought together members of the intelligence and security community, opinion leaders and analysts to chart a new path for national development.
He described the NDDC Managing Director as a pragmatic leader who speaks from experience and knowledge, urging participants to emulate good role models.
The NISS Commandant presented Ogbuku with a “Distinguished Personality of the Year Award” in recognition of his contributions to peace in the Niger Delta region.
Seledi Thompson-Wakama
Director, Corporate Affairs
Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)
November 5, 2026.
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