Chairman of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Summit Committee, Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, has said the event will end the commission’s over-reliance on the International Oil Companies (IOCs).
The PPP, organised by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), will hold in Lagos today, where Niger Delta stakeholders and captains of industry are expected to explore ways of driving sustainable development in the oil-rich region.
Audu-Ohwavborua noted that for the NDDC to effectively drive sustainable development in the region, it was necessary to adopt the PPP model to help the Commission generate funds outside the already established channels.
A programme by the summit committee said the event would lay the foundation for ‘building a sustainable future through Public Private Partnership for progress in the Niger Delta’.
With the theme ‘Rewind to Rebirth’, the summit will feature presentations and discussions by experts and top government officials, with the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote, delivering the keynote address.
Managing Director of the NDDC Samuel Ogbuku would give an overview of the commission’s achievements and challenges.
According to Audu-Ohwavborua, the meeting would also create opportunities for both local and foreign investors, captains of industries, and the corporate world to partner the NDDC in building a brighter future for the Niger Delta region.
A statement by the Director of Corporate Affairs, Ibitoye Abosede, said Audu-Ohwavborua described the summit as a game-changing partnership initiative.
He said: “The PPP summit is part of NDDC’s strategy to reduce its reliance on International Oil Companies and the Federal Government to raise funds for development projects. It would set the stage for generating the necessary interest among private sector operators in the country and beyond to partner to close the infrastructural gaps in the Niger Delta.”
The NDDC recently inaugurated a PPP Committee to enable it review all the commission’s existing partnerships and explore new partnerships that would result in enduring regional projects.
The committee was expected to ‘identify, pursue and secure alternative sources of funding for the Commission’s projects and programmes’, as well as ‘draw up and adopt projects and programmes funding templates’.
The 12-member committee is jointly supervised by the NDDC Executive Director Finance and Administration, Maj-Gen. Charles Airhiavbere (rtd) and Executive Director (Projects) Charles Ogunmola.
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