Nsima Ekere As Niger Delta’s Change Agent - Sirealsilver

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Nsima Ekere As Niger Delta’s Change Agent

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By Ifeatu Agbu

For the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, and its stakeholders, "there is a new sheriff in town," and the old ways must give way for the new.


The change agent, who wears the cap of the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the foremost interventionist agency in the Niger Delta, is the vibrant Mr. Nsima Udo Ekere, a former Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State.


Right from the onset, he left no one in doubt that he had come to turn things around for good. He told the Commission’s staff and management at his first interaction with them that they must gird their loins for a whole new experience.


He said: “We would have to do things differently to improve the transparency of our processes, leverage technology to increase accountability and efficiency, consult stakeholders frequently, engage proactively and be creative about the programmes that we design, to uplift the people and the region.”


As part of this change in direction, Ekere pledged: “The commission will be restructured and returned to its core mandate particularly in the area of regional development and integration.”

He said the new team will “work with other partners to create a new narrative for the NDDC.”

 As the chief accounting officer, Nsima Ekere is no doubt the driving force in the Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba-led Board which was inaugurated on Friday, November 4, 2016 in Abuja.

The board and management assumed duties on Monday, November 7, at the Commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt, opening a new vista for the Federal Government’s vehicle for developing Nigeria’s oil-rich region.

The Managing Director pledged to give verve to the commission’s determination to make a difference, assuring that the management would work vigorously to bring sustainable development to the region in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision to develop the region.

He commended the deep interest Mr. President has shown in changing the Niger Delta narrative, adding: “The recent engagements with leaders and stakeholders of the region, the inauguration of a new Boards, the transfer of oversight responsibility over the Commission to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the Lagos-Calabar rail link project. These are significant actions that are bound to impact the region positively.”

Mr. Ekere, a tested technocrat and administrator, noted that the new team at the NDDC was beginning its assignment at a critical time in the Niger Delta and Nigeria, especially dealing with reduced revenues resulting from the combined effects of decline in global oil prices and the crippling economic sabotage of Nigeria’s oil production activities.

He stated that NDDC needed to consider innovative and more efficient ways of doing things, find new partners to help execute the mandate for the Niger Delta region, strengthen existing relationships to ensure that all stakeholders were working towards common goals and promote the peace that was necessary for the development of the region.

Ekere said: “The governing board and management of NDDC are committed to fashioning a new path for the commission and it is not the well-worn path that leads to failure, but that one least travelled, which will make us trailblazers for the people of the region.

In charting the way forward, Ekere has been driving implementation of the 4-R Initiative, which the Commission recently adopted after a careful review of the issues. It consists of the following components:

Restructure the Balance sheet which currently has about N1.2 trillion worth of on-going projects;Reform the Governance systems to ensure that as an organization we comply with extant rules and regulations and prevent mistakes of the past from recurring;Restore the Core mandate of the Commission by ensuring we have a properly prepared set of Master Plans for the 9 States, andReaffirm our commitment to doing what is right and proper.

Ekere also stated that his focus would be on intervention programmes that would deliver real measurable developmental outcomes for the Niger Delta region and its citizens, stressing that every NDDC team member had a role to play in moving the commission and the Niger Delta forward through the right vision, demanding work and determination.

Ekere has steered NDDC to establish partnerships with Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta, PIND, BudgIT Foundation, Facility for Oil Sector Transparency and Reform in Nigeria, FOSTER, and the Market Development Project in the Niger Delta, MADE.

These partnerships are designed to create a more transparent NDDC that is driven by best practice, adherence to rules and creating value-for-money projects and programmes.

In addition, he has engineered a partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, on a $60 million job creation programme to help reduce youth unemployment in the Niger Delta region.

The NDDC boss has what it takes to realize his vision for the Niger Delta given his rich experience in the oil and gas sectors of the Nigerian economy. He is credited with successes of most of the investment programmes that Akwa Ibom is using today to drive its development.

Some of those achievements started when he was the Chairman of the state investment agency, the Akwa Ibom Investment and Industrial Promotion Council, AKIIPOC.

In his days at AKIIPOC, Ekere implemented the first private sector gas-to-power project in Nigeria, an innovative strategy to convert natural gas into feedstock for power generation, as a public – private partnership with the Akwa Ibom State Government.

He also developed and implemented a framework for State Governments to undertake power distribution within their states.

He worked with the office of the Vice President and the National Council on Power and the Governors of Cross River, Rivers, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom states to create a special purpose vehicle, 4-Power Limited, to assume responsibility for power distribution across the four states.

Ekere’s public and private sector experiences inform his deep understanding of the challenges confronting of the Niger Delta. They certainly give him an edge in finding answers to the region’s perennial problems.

His days as the Principal Partner of Ekere and Associates, a firm of estate valuers and real estate development consultants with offices in Port Harcourt, Lagos, Abuja and Uyo, add to his pedigree.

He sat on the board of the Voice of Nigeria, VON, and served in various organisations like Universal Energy Resources Limited, Anchor Insurance, Akwa Ibom Investment & Industrial Promotion council (AKIIPOC), the investments and industrial promotions’ arm of the Akwa Ibom State Government. He also severed simultaneously as Chairman of Ibom Power Company, the independent power generating company owned by Akwa Ibom State.

Ekere has come to the NDDC at a time expectations are high on how best the government can positively transform the Niger Delta region, especially as the challenges are enormous as a result of dwindling revenue.

This is where the MD’s sagacity comes in to play.

His political associates believe that Ekere’s move to the NDDC could not have come at a better time as the Buhari administration was doing all it could to restore normalcy in the Niger Delta region towards achieving regional peace, stability and development. His experience will no doubt be a great asset.

Recently, royal fathers of Ibibio extraction, under the umbrella of Ifim Ikpaisong Ibibio, commended Ekere for the successes so far recorded in just six months in office.

The Uyio Ikpaisong Ibibio and Paramount Ruler of Etinan, Edidem Ime Dickson Umoette, stated this when a team from the NDDC, led by the Managing Director visited the Ibibio monarchs in his palace.

The royal father, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, thanked God for the life of Ekere, describing him as the Biblical Joseph, who was sent to deliver his people through the various intervention initiatives of the NDDC in the state and region.

“We appreciate your finding time despite your busy schedule to visit us. We have seen your numerous interventions in the state in just six months. No conspiracy against you, the Commissioner and the Governing Board will prevail”, he prayed.

Ekere pledged to work assiduously towards making the state proud as a worthy ambassador all through his tenure.

This has started manifesting as the NDDC recently donated a 500 KVA generator to the Ibom Specialist Hospital in Uyo. Ibom Specialist Hospital built by the immediate past administration of Chief Godswill Akpabio in the state with world class facilities to stop medical tourism by Nigerians had of recent faced by power challenges.

Mr Ekere, who made the donation when he led a delegation from the Commission to the hospital, pleaded with government at all levels and other multinationals not to allow the hospital to die.

He said the NDDC will partner the Akwa Ibom State Government to ensure the objective upon which the Hospital was conceptualized and built is achieved.

According to Ekere, the equipment and facilities in the hospital cannot function optimally and efficiently without constant power, a deficiency he noted necessitated the NDDC’s intervention towards solving the electricity challenge of the hospital. “NDDC will also partner the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company Limited to ensure that the hospital is connected to the national grid”, he promised.

He said the hospital, which was built by the Akpabio administration to curb medical tourism in the country has world class facilities that can provide services that meet international best standard. “I was a beneficiary of the sound medical attention being given in this hospital, when I had some medical issues last year.

I was admitted here for treatment and when I later travelled abroad for further checkup, doctors there could not believe a hospital in Africa could offer such medical services” Ekere explained that one of Niger Delta’s health challenges is the effect of hydrocarbon emission which causes cancer, hence the determination of the NDDC to partner the hospital to have a Cancer Centre that is functional, effective and efficient.

He commended the staff for exhibiting a high level of professionalism in the discharge of their duties to patients. Ekere stated that the Commission remained committed towards partnering the Akwa Ibom State government in ensuring that intervention projects that add value to the lives of the people are done. “Whoever takes credit for projects is not the issue.

“Our job is to partner with various state governments to have enduring structures in the region”, he declared.
Niger Delta stakeholders agree that the NDDC has done a lot in line with its core mandate because in many communities, noting that the Commission remains the only government presence assisting in providing either roads, electricity, water etc,

It is to the advantage of Akwa Ibom State that the NDDC's sharing formula is based on the oil quota from the states. Currently, Akwa Ibom is topping the chart as the highest oil producing state in the region with 30% which explains why the state has benefited immensely from the NDDC in recent times.
Nsima Ekere As Niger Delta’s Change Agent Reviewed by sirealsilver on May 29, 2017 Rating: 5 By Ifeatu Agbu For the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, and its stakeholders, "there is a new sheriff in town,"...

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