The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has intensified efforts to secure community buy-in for its development projects through stakeholder engagement, community monitoring committees and partnerships with traditional institutions, youth and women’s organisations, as part of a strategy to achieve lasting peace in the oil-rich region.
The Commission’s Managing Director, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, said sustainable peace in the Niger Delta would depend not just on security operations, but on making communities active participants in development planning, implementation and monitoring.
Ogbuku spoke in Abuja while delivering the Distinguished Personality Lecture at the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS), with the theme, “Peace Building Through Development: The Strategic Role of the NDDC in Stabilising the Niger Delta Region.”He said the Commission had moved away from a transactional approach to development towards a transformational model designed to build public trust, strengthen community ownership and create sustainable economic opportunities.

A major component of the strategy, according to him, is the introduction of Community Monitoring Committees, which gives host communities a direct role in monitoring development projects and ensuring that interventions meet their needs.
He explained that the initiative, unveiled at the Commission’s 2026 Partners for Sustainable Development Conference in Port Harcourt, was intended to make communities stakeholders and owners of development projects rather than passive beneficiaries.
Ogbuku said the Commission had also presented a Stakeholder Document to strengthen engagement with communities and provide a framework for more inclusive development interventions.
“When a community monitors a project, it has a greater stake in protecting that project. When governments listen to communities, they are more likely to trust them. Transparency underpins trust, and trust underpins peace”, he said.
He added that the NDDC had introduced its “Rewind to Rebirth” initiative to recalibrate its engagement with Niger Delta stakeholders and reposition its intervention programmes to deliver more meaningful results.
The Managing Director stated that decades of relying largely on security enforcement had shown that lasting peace could not be achieved without addressing the development deficits and economic frustrations confronting the region.
“Experience has taught us that you cannot sustainably secure what you have persistently failed to develop”, he said.
He stressed the importance of coordinating development interventions across the region, warning that duplication of projects and perceived inequality in resource allocation could fuel resentment and undermine peace.
Ogbuku said the NDDC was collaborating with the Ministry of Regional Development, under Engr. Abubakar Momoh, to a National Policy on Regional Development.

harmonise regional development master plans within the framework of a National Policy on Regional Development.
He identified the Partners for Sustainable Development Forum, established under the NDDC Act, as a key platform for coordinating interventions by government agencies, state and local governments and development partners.
The NDDC boss cited the 27-kilometre Ogbia-Nembe Road in Bayelsa State, which connects 14 communities through 99 culverts and 14 bridges, as an example of the benefits of collaboration.
The project was executed in partnership with Shell Petroleum Development Company.
He also highlighted the Commission’s memorandum of understanding with the Nigeria LNG Limited for the Bonny Ring Road and the 3.65-kilometre Okrika-Borikiri Road, featuring three bridges, in Rivers State.
On youth restiveness, Ogbuku said the Commission was convinced that providing viable economic alternatives was more effective than relying solely on security measures to discourage criminality.
He argued that young people needed access to jobs, skills acquisition, agriculture, business opportunities and finance to make legitimate livelihoods more attractive than illicit activities.
“You cannot simply tell a young person to drop the arms without providing an alternative pathway to dignity and livelihood. That alternative may be a farm, a skill, a business, access to finance or a job”, he said.
Ogbuku further disclosed that the Commission had strengthened its corporate governance framework through measurable Key Performance Indicators and the digitisation of internal processes, including e-procurement, electronic contract award letters and the Electronic Memo platform.
He commended President Bola Tinubu for directing the NDDC to complete ongoing projects and introducing a performance bond to strengthen accountability in project delivery.
The Managing Director also announced the completion of the 1.2-kilometre Kaa-Ataba Bridge in Rivers State, linking Khana and Andoni local government areas, which he said would be named the President Tinubu Bridge.
He called for collective responsibility in sustaining peace, and urged traditional rulers to serve as peace ambassadors, youth and women’s groups to participate in project monitoring, and state and local governments to work with the Commission as development partners.
He also urged security agencies to recognise development institutions as partners in preventive security, rather than viewing peace-building solely through the lens of enforcement.
Earlier, the Commandant of the National Institute for Security Studies, Mr. Joseph Odama, said the lecture brought together members of the intelligence and security community, opinion leaders and analysts to explore a new approach to national development.Odama described Ogbuku as a pragmatic leader whose contributions to the Niger Delta were informed by experience and knowledge.
The NISS Commandant subsequently presented the NDDC Managing Director with the “Distinguished Personality of the Year Award” in recognition of his contributions to peace in the region.

By: AriweraIbibo-Howells, Yenagoa

Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has said that his administration’s determination to break the jinx of inaccessibility into Southern-Ijaw, one of the oil-rich local government areas of the state, motivated him to embark on construction of roads and bridges in the area.
Speaking on Thursday at his Sampou country home when he played host to a delegation of Southern Ijaw women and his students from the Class of 1986 at the Government Secondary School, Amassoma, the Bayelsa Governor Stated that road infrastructure boosts not only connectivity, but also promotes economic opportunities.
A Statement from the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Daniel Alabrah says that in the delegation were the acting paramount ruler of Amassoma Community, Chief Godswill Akedesuo, and the State’s Commissioner for Women, Children Affairs, Empowerment and Social Development, Mrs. Joanah Gigi, who were the governor’s former students.
Diri recalled that during his first term campaigns in 2019, the major concern raised by people of the area was a road linking Oporoma, the local government headquarters, which had remained inaccessible by land for years.
He further narrated how his kinsman, late Chief F.K Agara, a prominent Ijaw leader and politician, died from injuries sustained in a boat mishap during a political campaign at Oporoma before Bayelsa’s creation in 1996.
Diri said the incident provided an insight on the need for roads and bridges linking rural communities to the state capital and that when he became governor, he decided to break the jinx.
“One of my kinsmen died in a boat mishap at Oporoma when him and others were on a campaign. He fell off the boat and the propeller injured him. By the time he was taken back to Port Harcourt, he gave up. And l decided that l was going to break that jinx”, he said.
The Governor, who noted that any leader could have been put off by the sheer cost of road and bridge construction in the area and across the state, assured that his administration would not be deterred from actualising its vision.
He expressed gratitude to the women for recognising his administration’s achievements, stating that he shared in their joy over the construction of the bridges at Aguobiri and Angiama and the road to Oporoma, which would open up the state.
“On behalf of government, l thank you for your show of love and support for my administration. When the cost of constructing the bridges at Aguobiri and Angiama and the road to Oporoma was given, it was fearful and anybody could have chickened out.
“One of the features that brings about civilization is road infrastructure. Many communities like mine, Sampou, suffered the same fate because then they were not connected by road.
“I am as elated as you are that we completed the bridges and have taken the road to the Southern Ijaw local government headquarters. We can now drive to that place and to several other communities.
“On boat from there to Olugbobiri now takes about 15 minutes and from Oporoma to Ekowe is only about five minutes. Significant progress is also being made on the road to Eniwari. Your gesture is heartwarming, and it will spur us to do more”, Diri added.
He praised his former students at GSS Amassoma for their brilliant academic performance, saying that he was proud of what they had become.
While endorsing the candidature of Hon. Rodney Ambaiowei, the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag bearer for Southern Ijaw Federal Constituency, the Governor urged the Southern Ijaw people to vote President Bola Tinubu in the upcoming election and all other APC candidates at all levels, stressing that the president had been supportive of the state’s development efforts.
According to him, President Tinubu’s government approved construction of the second phase of the Nembe-Brass Road, granted waiver for the delivery of the state’s gas turbines, and awarded the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project.
In her remarks, the Commissioner for Women, Children Affairs, Empowerment and Social Development, Joanah Gigi, expressed appreciation to the Governor for the opportunity to serve in his cabinet.
Gigi appealed to the Governor to give more appointments to her classmates.
Also, the Vice Chairman of Southern Ijaw Local Government, Dr. Josephine Ekeuwei, praised Diri for constructing the Yenagoa-Oporoma Road, which she said has added value to their lives.
She particularly thanked the Governor for appointing one of their own, Gigi, as commissioner, stating that Southern Ijaw people were impressed with his achievements.
Leader of the Class of 1986 delegation, Rev. Innocent Opuene, said Diri taught them Government in school and appreciated him for his administration’s support to his former students.

By: Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa

Former President, Goodluck Jonathan, Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, their wives, and Judges from across the country, midweek, bade farewell to the late husband of the Chief Judge of Bayelsa State, Elder Freeman Ayemieye.
At the funeral service, held at the Saint Peter’s Deanery, Yenagoa, the former President and the Bayelsa Governor paid tributes to the late Anglican Layreader.
In his tribute, Jonathan charged political leaders to live lives worthy of remembrance, warning that no one owned the world or even his own family.
He said from the biography of the deceased, and the testimonies of the church’s Men’s Fellowship, the late Elder Ayemieye lived well and was a pillar of the church.
The former Nigerian leader said one of the striking lessons from burials was that everyone will die one day, and asked: when we leave, what will people remember us by?
Addressing political leaders, Jonathan queried if people would remember them for the number of people they killed or the number of houses they burnt down because they wanted to win elections.
He warned that as elections approach, Nigerians will listen to speeches by politicians, who will talk as if they owned the world, but in reality, they were just individuals.
According to him, “no matter how powerful you are, if you got lost today, nobody will remember you; nobody cares. Nobody should think that he owned the world, Nigeria or even his own family. Sometimes, you will be surprised that some of your children might not even vote for you. That is the funny thing about politics.”
In his remarks, Diri recalled how the late Ayemieye came to him and stood by his wife, Justice Matilda Ayemieye, during the period of her appointment as Chief Judge.
He said although he did not know the deceased before then, from the brief period of their interaction, he heard nothing to the contrary about him from every encomium poured on him at the service.
He said under Justice Ayemieye, the executive has had a peaceful relationship with the judiciary, stressing that the achievements recorded by his government were because the three arms of government in the state worked together.
The Governor also attributed the successes recorded by the Chief Judge to the support and peace from her late husband at home, stating that if there was no peace in the family, it would have reflected in her actions.“We know that at times like this, even when a wicked man dies, nobody talks about his wickedness. Everybody talks about the good side of the dead. But for the man lying in state here, from all the interactions we had, I have not heard anything to the contrary.ý
“Since that appointment, I have worked in peace and synergy with the Chief Judge of Bayelsa State and with the Judiciary. Any achievement of this government is because we have worked together. It is not I as governor alone. It is because we have worked together – the executive, legislature and the judiciary”, the Governor said.
Preaching on the theme: “Seeking God’s kingdom”, Bishop of the Niger Delta West Diocese of the Anglican Church, Rt. Rev. Nexon Enekeme, warned Christians against chasing titles, positions and material wealth, saying none of them follows a man to the grave.ý
Enekeme urged Christians to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and that every other thing shall be added unto them.
Speaking on behalf of the deceased family, immediate past Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dame Didi Walson-Jack, described the late Ayemieye as a very peaceful man, whose life attracted people from across Bayelsa State to his funeral.
Walson-Jack, who said it was an honour to speak on behalf of the Ayemieyes, described herself as a member of the family because of the close relationship between both families, having lived with them.
She stated that through her prodding, the deceased became President of the Port Harcourt branch of the Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship because of his love for God.
She appreciated Jonathan, Diri and their wives for their support, prayers and encouragement during the trying time of the family as well as the Niger Delta West Diocese, Chief Judges of other states, and others that travelled to the state to honour a colleague.
At the funeral service were former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, Dr. Gloria Diri, Justice Patience Diri, the Deputy Governor, Dr. Peter Akpe, members of the National Assembly, Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Michael Ogbere, the Chief Judges of Rivers, Delta and Oyo states, and other top government officials.

By: Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa