The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) says it is planning to adopt a community-based management approach to maintain projects in the Niger Delta.
Prof. Nelson Brambaifa, NDDC’s Acting Managing Director, disclosed this in a statement by the Commission’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Mr Charles Odili, in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
According to the statement, Brambaifa spoke through the Commission’s Director of Community and Rural Development, Dr Solomon Ita, at a meeting between NDDC and the European Union Niger Delta Support Programme (EUNDSP) at the commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt.
“I commend NDDC’s Focal Task Team that has been handling the capacity building of our communities as well as promoting synergy toward implementation of Niger Delta pilot project scheme.
“The task force had in a meeting produced an estimated cost of rehabilitating 45 selected water projects across the nine mandate states of the NDDC,” it said.
It said that NDDC and the European Union had both agreed to build community-based management template to ensure projects in communities were maintained.
“We hope the template will be used by the commission and other agencies in implementing and managing some of the abandoned projects in the region,” it said.
The statement said the leader of the EU delegation, Ms Cecil Collins, said the global body visited NDDC to review and evaluate results and impact of various interventions in the region.
“We are also here to understand the extent they (NDDC) had met demands of the people. This finding will enable the EU to do things differently in the Niger Delta.
“It is important to have feedback on the extent to which the EU’s intervention had complemented efforts made by NDDC in providing portable water in the region,” she said.
