The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has called for the support<\/p>\n
of the United States and other willing partners to achieve its goal of
\ncreating entrepreneurs and wealth across rural communities of the Niger
\nDelta.<\/p>\n
Speaking during a courtesy visit by a delegation from the United States
\nCongress, the Acting Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the
\nNDDC, Mrs Ibim Semenitari, said the Commission\u2019s top priorities for the
\nyear 2016 were project completion, human capital development and
\nsettlement of indebtedness to contractors.<\/p>\n
Semenitari, who stressed the need to change the orientation of people, so
\nas facilitate the creation of entrepreneurs and wealth in the Niger Delta
\nregion, said: \u201cWe have noticed that there is poverty in the region because
\npeople do not have access to credit, if they want to engage in small scale
\nfarming, fishing or business. When they have access to credit, they do not
\nhave someone who can take them through the process of becoming
\nentrepreneurs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo for 2016, our focus will be on human capital development and also on
\ncreating wealth in the local communities. We will be looking at creating
\nclusters of business people that will grow along the entire spectrum, from
\nmicro through small to medium scale,\u201d said the NDDC Managing Director.<\/p>\n
Noting that it would be virtually impossible for NDDC to undertake
\nsustainable development of the Niger Delta region by itself, Semenitari
\nsaid: \u201cWhenever we are able to talk to people who are partners in
\ndevelopment, it is always a great opportunity. We are shopping for
\npartners who are willing to support us in the region to achieve our goals.
\nAny kind of support is welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Giving further insight into goings-on and future plans of the Commission,
\nthe NDDC boss acknowledged the Commission\u2019s indebtedness to so many
\ncontractors, adding that some of the debts date back to 2009. \u201cWe are
\ntrying to clear debts of N10 million and below up till 2013. That is our
\nplan to exit our indebtedness to our contractors,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said that since NDDC could not just focus on how to get out of debt,
\n\u201cwe are looking to have a budget that focuses largely on project
\ncompletion. So we hope that by the end of 2016, we would have completed a
\ngood number of our infrastructural development projects, as funds will
\nallow us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NDDC Acting Managing Director said: \u201cWe will start very few projects
\nthat must have very high impact on the people and we will be doing this
\nwith the consent of and after consultation with the people. To kick-start
\nthis we have asked the nine state governments to furnish us with what they
\nthought were their needs for 2016.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier, the Staff Director, US House Sub-committee on Africa, Global
\nHealth, Global Human Rights and International Organisations, Mr Gregory
\nSimpkins, who led the visiting delegation, said: \u201cWe came to speak with
\nthe NDDC, which is the major development catalyst in the Niger Delta
\nregion, to see what is happening and what is being planned for the
\nfuture.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has called for the support of the United States and other willing partners to achieve its goal of creating entrepreneurs and wealth across rural…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n