Following the sack of the last board members of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, the Federal Government is planning to restructure the commission into a holistic development agency to be manned by core professionals rather than politicians in order to transform the Niger Delta region, Vanguard reports.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, whose office supervises the commission, indicated that the Federal Government would beam its searchlight on the activities of the commission in its bid to make it serve the needs of the region better.

Lawal regretted that the organisation had lost its focus of serving primarily as a strategic development vehicle but served more as a political organisation, thereby denying the people of the area the real benefits for which it was set up.

The SGF said: “We have to reorganise NDDC to serve as a strategic development organisation to be able to address the peculiar needs of the region and its people.”

As part of the re-organisation, we are going to beam our searchlight on the commission’s activities and see how best to reposition the agency for better performance. We will do whatever is necessary to put NDDC in a better shape for the overall development of the area.

“I can tell you that the Federal Government is very sympathetic to the Niger Delta because of its peculiar terrain and we need to take urgent steps to put things right in the place.”

Last December, President Muhammadu Buhari sacked the Bassey Dan Abia- led board and appointed Ibim Semenitari  as Acting Managing Director of the commission.

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