Goodbye Yesteryears At NDDC

All Africa

15 December 2011

Goodbye Yesteryears At NDDC

Pius Ughakpoteni

....NDDC must rise to the daunting challenge of facilitating the speedy development of the Niger Delta. Moreover, before the introduction of the Federal Government's amnesty programme, the absence of peace in the region used to be cited as a major impediment to development in the Niger Delta. That argument can hardly hold water today, as relative peace now prevails in the region. Above all, the Federal Government's transformation agenda for improving the fortunes of this country places enormous performance demands on the NDDC.

Consequently, but without demeaning the roles of NDDC rank and file, as well as middle, senior and top management employees, the new board has a monumental responsibility to provide strategic leadership for the Commission to perform better. Indeed, many corporate collapses have been attributed to ineffective boards and disunited executive management teams whose members failed to work as one. This is the crux of the matter and the critical challenge for Dr. Tebepah and his colleagues. However, this challenge is intertwined with a tremendous opportunity for them to make a difference. In addition, they stand a chance to leave indelible footprints on the sands of time. Theirs is akin to a national call to avert a calamitous collapse of a promising organisation that has the potential to make the Niger Delta measure up to stakeholders' expectations. But for them to act as a tonic to the NDDC they may need to draw on tested tenets of corporate governance.