The
Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, says it will strengthen its
collaboration with the European Union, EU, through the Niger Delta Support
Programme, NDSP, to resuscitate abandoned water infrastructure across the nine
Niger Delta states.
The
NDDC Acting Managing Director, Prof. Nelson Brambaifa, stated this when a
delegation from the EU-funded NDSP3 pilot project paid him a courtesy visit at
the Commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt.
He
stressed the importance of institutionalising community-based management
structure for the maintenance and sustainability of basic infrastructure in the
Niger Delta region. He also harped on the need to develop a framework to ensure
community ownership of water projects in the region.
Prof.
Brambaifa commended the EU delegation for collaborating with the NDDC to ensure
sustainability of water projects in the Niger Delta region, especially with the
realisation that water was one of the basic needs of life.
He
declared: “We are looking forward to strengthening the collaboration with the
EU, because water is life.”
He
noted that the ground water in the Niger Delta region was polluted, such that
even with the abundance of water in the area, there was hardly enough fit for
drinking.
He
said: “We definitely need sustainable water projects because it is part of our
mandate to bring potable water to the inhabitants of the Niger Delta region. It
is one thing to organise a project like this, but it is another to ensure its
sustainability. You don’t just start a water project and two months later you
come to see that it had been vandalised.
“We
are committed to this partnership with the EU to work out modalities to ensure
that any water project we commission should be able to stand the test of time.
We must find ways to safeguard our projects because it is one of our core
mandates to bring sustainable development to the people of the Niger Delta.”
The
NDDC Chief Executive Officer pledged to take the Niger Delta to the next level
in line with the mantra of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.
He
called on the EU delegation to convince the international body to increase its
financial commitment to the water project so as to help the region with safe
drinking water that would address the challenges of water-borne diseases in the
region.
The
team leader of the NDSP, Albert Achten, told the NDDC boss that there was need
to expedite action on the pilot project because its life span would terminate
in May this year.
He,
therefore, enjoined the partners to push for an effective and timely
implementation of the EU and NDDC-NDSP3 pilot project.
Achten
remarked that in the last two years a synergy had been developed between the
EU-funded NDSP and the NDDC, stating that the key part of the synergy was the
pilot project for reviving 45 abandoned water schemes in the nine Niger Delta
states.
He
recalled that the collaboration took off officially in November last year at a
two-day Strategic Retreat for the Board and Management of the NDDC in Uyo, Akwa
Ibom State. Further to that, he said that on February 2, 2019, the NDDC
demonstrated its commitment to the project by writing to the Ministry of Budget
and National Planning on the programme.
According
to him, the project is up and running, as two very important tasks had been
completed. He, however, stressed that time was running out since the contract
between the EU and the Ministry of Budget and National Planning would end in
the next few months.
He
said: “We solicit the continued support of the NDDC for the project, especially
as it concerns the release of funds. The NDSP part of the project is financed
by the EU, but the logistics for some of the activities are expected to be
taken care of by the NDDC.”
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