THE Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has challenged the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to find lasting solutions to the economic challenges besetting the oil-rich Niger Delta.
Speaking yesterday at the 25th-anniversary celebration of the NDDC, Okonjo-Iweala noted that decades of oil and gas exploration have caused severe environmental degradation, while neglect of the region’s socio-economic development has fuelled frustration and unrest among its people.
“Let me first congratulate the NDDC for the work it has carried out for the people of the Niger Delta. If I’m a bit critical in my speech, you know me, I mean it for good because I think you have done a lot, but you still have a lot more to do,” she said.
She reminded the audience that the NDDC was established in 2000 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo as a successor to the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC), which operated under military rule.
The move, she explained, was in response to longstanding cries of marginalisation and underdevelopment from communities in the region where Nigeria’s oil and gas resources are concentrated.
Okonjo-Iweala urged the NDDC to redouble its focus on economic development initiatives that would genuinely transform the lives of Niger Delta residents and reduce restiveness driven by neglect.
