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21 Years After NDDC Creation, N’Delta Still Underdeveloped – Social Activist Laments

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4 years ago

November 5, 2021

21 years after the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, a Commission saddled with the responsibility of developing the region was established, the region remains underdeveloped and still agitating for development as it used to be years ago.

Programme coordinator, Social Action, Isaac Botti, made this saddening submission in Benin on behalf of the Managing Director of the body in a Town Hall Meeting organised by Social Action with support from MacArthur Foundation.

The Town Hall Meeting, with the theme: ‘Community Approach to Promoting Accountability, Inclusive and Efficient Service Delivery by the NDDC’ was aimed at enlightening members of the public on the need to be involved in the preparation and implementation of the NDDC budget and the need for them to engaging the Commission in execution of project in their locality.

In his opening remarks, Botti lamented that despite generating over N100 trillion to the federation account in the past few years, the Niger Delta region which generated such huge amount has nothing to show for it.

While adding that the NDDC has failed woefully in its mandate of developing the region in terms of infrastructure and social amenities, Botti lamented that the Niger Delta of today was not what the founders of NDDC envisioned when they established the Commission.

“The Niger Delta where over 100trillion has come out as revenue for the government, is far from development. The Niger Delta we have today is not what was envisioned when this Commission was set up 21 years ago.

“When the NDDC was set up 21 years ago, we were of the hope that by 2020, we will have a Niger Delta of the same standard of Infrastructure, same quality of life like Dubai but unfortunately, 21 years after, we are faced with that sad reality – development is still far from us,” he lamented.

He blamed the citizenry for being part of the problem in terms of NDDC failure in developing the region by not holding the Commission responsible and not asking questions on some projects executed by the NDDC in their domains.

“A fundamental challenge that we have observed, which is also critical to the level of corruption in the Commission is that, we as citizens, we are not engaging the NDDC enough. Many things are being done that we are not part of. A lot of things are being done that we do not know anything about.

“We want to strengthen citizens participation in NDDC budget process and its implementation,” he said.

Panel of discussants drawn from representives from comminity heads (chiefs) community leaders, host communities representives, civil society organistions, market women, representives from the pysically challenged, etc all said that the NDDC has failed in delivering its mandate.

They also berrated the Commission for not involving communities whenever projects are being executed in such communities.

Related Topics:MacArthur Foundation NDDC Social Action

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Militia Attack On DRC IDP Camp, Kills 10, Mostly Women, Children

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2 hours ago

June 27, 2025

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An armed group at the centre of a long-running ethnic conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeast attacked a camp for displaced people on Friday, killing 10, local sources told AFP.

Bordering Uganda, Ituri province has for years been the scene of pitched battles between the Lendu, a group mainly made up of settled farmers, and the Hema people, typically nomadic herders.

The fighting has led to the deaths of thousands of civilians and the mass displacement of many more.

Friday’s assault on the Djangi displaced persons camp was carried out by the self-proclaimed Cooperative for the Development of Congo (Codeco), a Lendu-aligned militia responsible for previous civilian massacres, the camp’s head told AFP.

“They were many and armed with firearms and machetes. They surprised us, they killed 10 displaced people, most of them women and children,” said Richard Likana.

An employee of the Red Cross, who asked to remain anonymous, confirmed the attack, which took place around 60 kilometres (37 miles) from Bunia.

“They were cut up with machetes while others were shot,” the humanitarian worker added.

Congolese army Colonel Ruffin Mapela, the local administrator for Djugu territory where the camp is located, gave the same toll of 10 dead and put the number of injured at 15.

According to local and humanitarian sources, Codeco was responsible for an attack on February 10 which killed 51 people in Ituri province. Most of the victims were also displaced persons.

That raid was said to be a response to a strike by the rival Hema-led Zaire militia in the same area.

Violence between the Hema and Lendu killed thousands in gold-rich Ituri from 1999-2003, which only ended after European forces intervened.

The conflict erupted again in 2017, killing thousands more.

The violence has led to more than 1.5 million people leaving their homes, according to the UN.

AFP

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Israel Wants Global Action Against Iran’s Nuclear Plans

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2 hours ago

June 27, 2025

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Israel’s foreign minister said on Friday that the world was obliged to stop Iran from developing an atomic bomb, days after Israel claimed it had “thwarted Iran’s nuclear project” in a 12-day war.

“Israel acted at the last possible moment against an imminent threat to itself, the region, and the international community,” Gideon Saar wrote on X.

“The international community must now prevent, by any effective means, the world’s most extreme regime from obtaining the most dangerous weapon.”

Israel and Iran each claimed victory in the war that ended with a ceasefire on June 24.

The conflict erupted on June 13 when Israel launched a bombing campaign, stating it aimed to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon—an ambition Iran has consistently denied.

Following waves of Israeli attacks on nuclear and military sites, the United States bombed three key facilities, with President Donald Trump insisting it had set Iran’s nuclear programme back by “decades”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an address to the nation after the ceasefire, announced that “we have thwarted Iran’s nuclear project”.

However, there is no consensus as to how effective the strikes were.
On Friday, Iran rejected a request by UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi to visit the bombed facilities, saying it suggested “malign intent”.

The comments from Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi came after parliament approved a bill suspending cooperation with the UN watchdog.

In a post on X following the move, Saar said Iran “continues to mislead the international community and actively works to prevent effective oversight of its nuclear programme”.

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We Would Have Killed Iran’s Supreme Leader If Given Opportunity – Israel

Published

6 hours ago

June 27, 2025

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Defence Minister Israel Katz told media that Israel would have killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the war between the two countries if the opportunity had presented itself.

“If he had been in our sights, we would have taken him out,” Katz told Israel’s public radio station Kan Thursday evening, adding that the military had “searched a lot”.

“Khamenei understood this, went very deep underground, broke off contact with the commanders… so in the end it wasn’t realistic,” Katz told Kan.

He told Israeli television Channel 13 Thursday that Israel would cease its assassination attempts because “there is a difference between before the ceasefire and after the ceasefire”.

Katz had said during the war that Khamenei “can no longer be allowed to exist”, just days after reports that Washington vetoed Israeli plans to assassinate him.

But on Kan, Katz advised Khamenei to remain inside a bunker.

“He should learn from the late Nasrallah, who sat for a long time deep in the bunker”, he said, referring to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah’s former leader Hassan Nasrallah, who Israel killed in a Beirut air strike in September 2024.

The movements of the supreme leader, who has not left Iran since he took power, are subject to the tightest security and secrecy.

Katz said Thursday that Israel maintained its aerial superiority over Iran and that it was ready to strike again.

“We won’t let Iran develop nuclear weapons and threaten (Israel) with long-range missiles”, he said.

In his Channel 12 interview, Katz admitted that Israel does not know the location of all of Iran’s enriched uranium, but that its air strikes had destroyed the Islamic republic’s uranium enrichment capabilities.

“The material itself was not something that was supposed to be neutralised,” he said of the enriched uranium.

The impact of Israeli and US strikes on Iran’s nuclear programme has been a subject to debate.

A leaked US intelligence assessment estimated the programme to have set Iran back a few months, while Katz and other Israeli and US public figures said the damage would take years to rebuild.

Israel and Iran each claimed victory in a 12-day war that ended with a ceasefire on June 24.

The war erupted on June 13 when Israel launched a bombing campaign that it said aimed to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon — an ambition Iran has consistently denied.