‘I am passionate about a holistic development of the Niger Delta’

Cerebral Chibuzor Ugwoha has been in the oil industry for quite some time. He was in Paris, France when the call to duty beckoned on him. He was subsequently appointed into the management of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer on August 6, 2009 by former President, late Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua. In this interview, with Dele Agekameh, Editor-in-Chief; Dare Adejumo, Senior Editor; Funso Olaogun, Senior Editor; Winnie Obunde, Assistant Editor; and Jibril Sado, Senior Writer, Ugwoha fielded questions on his vision for the region, the achievements of the commission, the problems and prospects of development in the region and how he plans to make a remarkable difference in the lives of the Niger Delta people, especially through capacity building. Extracts:

As Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the NDDC in the last one year, what programmes have you been able to execute?

Well, when we came in, we inherited 44 big projects that were at the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and I had to ensure that they were awarded. The contractors are right now on the fields. Altogether, we have 45 ongoing mega projects with the addition of the new NDDC headquarters.

What are some of these projects?

They are projects involving roads, bridges, flood control, electricity, name them. These are projects designed to open up the Niger Delta in line with the master plan. Again, it is important to note that the NDDC as an agency of government is an interventionist agency. And like I normally tell people, as an interventionist agency, we are supposed to do things faster. We are not supposed to be another government bureaucracy where things are done sluggishly, because we have seen that there is no way that bureaucracy can bring about accelerated development and that is why we are where we are today. But the normal thing for us to do is to begin to act as a task force, but that is not to say that due process cannot be followed. We have to design the process to enable us move faster. People are in dire need of development; it is not a case of whether they need it or not. No, they badly need it.

‘In three years’ time … we are going to have a whole lot of people who now have the requisite skills, skills that are in demand, to provide services in this country and, therefore, grease the wheels of national development’

So how are you going about this?

My belief is that you cannot have development, especially in the context of the Niger Delta, without investing heavily in human capital. You cannot transform the fortune of the region to a place of peace and economic prosperity without looking beyond infrastructure. Infrastructural development is good as it brings about immediate, visible results, but it is not sustainable. Now, if you look around the region, the major problem of the region is that a whole lot of people have no means of livelihood, largely because they are unskilled, and not because there is no job. Jobs exist, but they do not just fit in. Therefore, the only way is to build their capacity so that they can participate in the economic activities that are going on around them either in the region or outside of it. And that is what is grossly lacking. Human capital development is not a short-term achievement. It is either medium or long term and it is not visible. For instance, it takes a child six years to go through primary school and another six or five years to go through secondary school. Then there is another four or five years to go through university in addition to a year in national service. So, when you put all these together, for 17 years, you have built this person and after about 18 years, he should be ready to deliver results and earn a living. Therefore, I feel very strongly that to solve the Niger Delta problem, we must put food on the table of Niger Deltans.

How do you achieve that?

We can achieve this mostly through human capital development, and attention must be given to it. The people who are going to build the infrastructure in the region must have the skill, which gives them a means of livelihood and removes idleness from their minds. So, people are employed as economic activities go on while the issue of social vices is brought to rest and then you can have peace. But a situation where people do not have the skills and you have to import people from outside to do jobs in these people’s area while the dwellers of the area only get the menial part of the job, there is bound to be some discontent and crisis. And that is something we must guard against. Therefore, I make bold to say that the solution to the Niger Delta crisis lies squarely in human capacity building.

How do you intend to achieve this capacity building?

I have noticed that there are a whole lot of graduates, but our schools, over the years, have not been able to come up with curricular that can provide answers to the existing realities. That is why there are lots of graduates who are unemployable. Even those who are employable, when employers advertise, they advertise for three, five or seven years’ experience. But how can a man who has not worked at all get any work experience? I felt one way out of the problem is to introduce what I call Niger Delta Technical Aid Corps, NTAC. The idea is to provide them with experience so that they could work and then build their CVs that would enable them get another job or that would expose them to the point that they could say “instead of working for someone else, let me be on my own.” For instance, there are many supermarkets whose owners have no money to employ accountants. Through this corps, they can get accountants because the commission will pay about N30,000 while they pay about N15,000. So, it is affordable for the employer as they are getting cheap labour for quality service. Before now, you were running a supermarket without a record of account, but now you have a qualified accountant keeping the record for you. By so doing, the person also learns how to run a business in the practical sense and this could come in handy for him in the future. So, that is the reason behind the technical aid corps which is fashioned along the line of the National Youth Service Corps, although while the NYSC is for one year, this one is for two years.

We wanted to start with about 2,000 graduates, but to my surprise, over 57,000 graduates applied and selection then became a very big issue. When we advertised, I had told the director involved that we should advertise online, but he insisted that we did it manually. But by the time we had 57,000, it was now too difficult to sort out the applicants. Anyway, the 2000 that were selected started the programme on August 3, this year.

What about the unskilled ones, the ones who have not gone to school? What do you do for them?

There are several other special programmes. For instance, we have welding programmes and we believe that those who didn’t go to school will still have ways to do other small programmes, including agriculture where we have so far trained about 5000 people. In the Nigeria of today, we need to continue to encourage people through free education up to the junior secondary school level, to go to school because there is no reason why people should not. So, aside from this one that is strictly for those who are educated, we believe everyone has to benefit. In this regard, we have also just trained about 220 youths in film acting and directing. You don’t have to be a graduate; once you can speak some form of English, you will benefit from the film project. You may not be the one who will handle the whole thing. And in this case, we have partnered the New York Film Academy to help us with the training. We believe that we could go into other areas like furniture making. We are at the moment discussing with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), the National Poverty Alleviation Programme (NAPEP) and so on. We also have a programme with Oron Maritime Academy where we are billed to train about 150 youths. Then we are in partnership with United Nations (UNITA) and have built a centre for good governance. Under the progamme we are going to train 100 youths in Norway in underwater activities. We are also in discussion with Ford Motors and are into partnership with the Czech Republic in order to build tractors for mechanized farming. We also have the macro-credit scheme where we hope to give loans to rural women. About N1 billion has been deposited in 10 banks for this purpose.  In addition to this, we have entered into partnership with NIMASA (Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency) where we hope to train 1000 youths in seafaring for a period of three years. I discovered that there are about 50,000 vacancies with nobody to fill them. One of the things I have been trying to be careful about is that I do not want to go into human capital development in areas where there are no demands, because if you train people in such areas, you are not really empowering them.

What are the current challenges facing the commission?

The number one challenge is that the people are used to doing things in certain ways. All this is a factor of change and that change is being challenged. Of course, it is normal that people are resisting change everywhere but the difference is that here, the people want to avoid change at all costs. People here are more interested in collecting money to share and not how such money can be collectively earned. They don’t care if this money needs to be invested. People know that, for instance, they don’t have water to drink but they are merely interested in just sharing the money that could be used in providing that water. There are both internal and external challenges. A contractor moves into a particular community but the people will not allow him to work until he pays them certain amount of money because they see the project as not their own. They see it as NDDC project. In most cases, many of the projects executed by the NDDC are left to decay because nobody wants to take care of the projects. I have had to appeal and I am still appealing to state governments in the Niger Delta Region to take absolute control of all these projects in their states. NDDC is not a parallel government. Whatever supervision the states are doing over their own projects should be extended to the NDDC projects in their states. After all, there are no NDDC states; it is only the existing 36 states and the FCT that are recognised by the Constitution. All what NDDC is doing is on behalf of the states, the communities therein and the people in the states. But it is sad to note that the projects, sited in the states, are obviously suffering from ownership crisis and nothing more. This crisis of ownership is needless and unnecessary. The states have rights to monitor the projects in their states. They can even stop any contractor if he or she is not doing the job to standard or satisfaction and then report to the NDDC. There must be value for money. The state governments, the local governments, the communities and the people must show interest in whatever development that is taken place in their areas. They own the projects, so they must take more than a passing interest or passive interest in them. That is how these projects can become meaningful and contribute to the uplift of the living standard of the people. Those projects were executed with taxpayers’ money and the taxpayers must take absolute control of them.

What are you doing to combat this?

We have initiated workshops to let them understand why they should see those projects as their own, because NDDC is not going to drink water in their community. If NDDC provides water in their community, it is for their own good and not for NDDC. So, we are focusing on value re-orientation. We are also battling with the attitude of contractors who struggle to get contracts and then sit back and refuse to execute them, preferring instead to spend the money as their own piece of the cake. But the third part is that some projects are collected not because people feel that the community people are in need of the projects but because those people just want the money in it. There may be other pressing issues but people take up certain contracts just to get the money, not minding whether or not they are really needed.

But you can get the banks to sign guarantees for some of the contractors who collect money without executing contracts.

As a matter of fact, we don’t pay contractors without bank guarantees. But then the banks themselves also create another problem. Apart from colluding with the contractors in some cases, the banks tend to make it difficult for the contractor to get his money after a project has commenced as they start demanding for all sorts of collateral securities. Also, there is this other side – everybody wants NDDC to do everything. When there is no water, they think it is the NDDC that should be called upon and so on and so forth. So at the end of the day, you start to ask: “What do all the other bodies and government agencies do because NDDC is an interventionist body?”  The NDDC receives just about seven percent of money that comes to the region while the various governments and parastatals and agencies receive about 93 per cent, but everyone still thinks the NDDC should do everything there. We feel that we must encourage the states to do more. That is why we are currently in partnership with Cross River State in hatchery in order to produce day-old chicks and encourage poultry farming. We also have a rice project with T4M Agro-Tech, UK, to help boost rice production. Those who never went to school can go into rice production. Right now, in Bayelsa State, we have built a big processing plant at Elele and we have another one which is not as big as that in Akwa Ibom State. The aim is that we should be able to turn the situation around in the Niger Delta so that within a short time, the region will not only be known for oil production but also for rice production. We are acquiring land from all the states to see how these rice farms can be established. We have also encouraged those who have big farms by getting tractors for them so that they can go ahead and produce more food.

What are your achievements in health services?

In the area of health services, we have continued to offer free health programmes through the Free Medical Outreaches in various communities in the states. Last year alone, more than 170 medical trips were undertaken in various communities in the Niger Delta region and more than one million people benefitted from these free health services. Apart from free drugs, we also distribute treated mosquitoes nets while we carried out various forms of surgical operations. We attended to special referral cases where indigent citizens with chronic ailments write to the NDDC requesting for assistance which was instantly granted. We now foot the bills for treatment both within and outside the country. Such referral cases include kidney transplant and others. Our medical teams are deployed to rural communities regularly to offer free treatment to people. This year alone, we have 72 of such missions. The NDDC is also partnering with an organisation, Bridge of Life, based in the United States of America, to build a dialysis centre in the region.

‘I believe that when there is employment, things will take a better shape, because when you have a good job, you will think less of carrying gun. And as more and more people get meaningfully engaged, you will find people telling themselves that they must follow the right path to live’

What are you doing to open up the rural areas?

The NDDC has been carrying out interventions through several road maintenance projects in the nine states. The purpose of this is to ensure that roads which have become impassable are quickly fixed to enhance vehicular movements as well as promote optimal economic activities in the region. Examples of such roads are Itu-Calabar Road, East-West Road, Mbiama Road and many others. Right now, the NDDC has almost completed the design of a coastal road that will run from Calabar to Lagos. The road will cost N1.18 trillion. When completed, it might only take three hours to drive from Port Harcourt to Lagos. Similarly, NDDC is collaborating with local governments in the region to bring development to the grassroots. This is an entirely new initiative of this administration. It is our own way of encouraging local government councils to provide some basic amenities in their domain. It involves NDDC contributing two-thirds of the project sum while the local governments contribute one-third of the total cost. For example, if the total project sum is, say N45 million, the NDDC will contribute N30 million while the local government pays N15 million. Currently, five local governments in each of the nine states are benefitting from the scheme. It is at the pilot stage. A team of representatives from the local governments and the NDDC are constituted and required to work out what the needs of each local governments are and then plan and implement the project. A special fund or account is opened where the representatives are signatories. The partners – the LGs and NDDC – are expected to deposit their financial commitments into the account. The representatives do the selection, plan, design and implement the project. The idea is to encourage local governments to provide amenities for their communities. If the money is there, there is no way contractors will not complete their jobs. At the end of the year, 45 projects are completed in the nine states. Something will be there for the people. This is just to encourage them to meet the basic needs at the grassroots. Some of the local governments want town halls for the people, some of them want to provide water to drink or even mono pumps. Through this collaboration at the grassroots, one local government can have as many mono-pumps scattered everywhere. By the time we measure the success of this pilot phase, we shall replicate it in all local governments in the region. It is to ensure that local governments put back, at least, some of their money into development. The idea could bring about a big competition among the local governments.

What other programmes do you have for the people?

There is another programme to update the teachers on modern teaching techniques. We do this by organising workshops so as to improve their performance. We resorted to this because we discovered that if they are not given constant refresher courses, the pupils and students could be affected by obsolete teaching methods. We feel that if they are not trained and retrained, they may not deliver well. They need to be acquainted with modern teaching systems and we are doing this in all the nine states. We also do de-worming of school pupils, a programme the NDDC has been doing before now. When children are sick, they do not go to school; when they are healthy, going to school becomes pleasurable – they will learn and benefit tremendously. When a child does well in school, it becomes an encouragement. I have also instituted a scholarship programme. Starting from September this year, no fewer than 200 Niger Deltans will be going overseas for their masters and PhD in the Sciences. It is for postgraduate students only, but we want to create the opportunity for indigent students to see that if they do well, then they could also benefit from this largesse. We believe that this will challenge Niger Delta youths in the universities to work harder. The idea is also to encourage students in primary and secondary schools to work harder, knowing that the opportunity is there for them. We believe that if this is sustained, in a space of four years, we should have about 800 masters’ degree holders from Niger Delta who can look for jobs anywhere.

‘The state governments, the local governments, the communities and the people must show interest in whatever development that is taken place in their areas. They own the projects… That is how these projects can become meaningful and contribute to the uplift of the living standard of the people’

So, when do you predict an end to this militancy in its actual form?

We believe that if this is supported, it depends on if at the end of my tenure, the next people who come in will seize the opportunity to open more doors for more people through capacity building. I believe that when there is employment, things will take a better shape, because when you have a good job, you will think less of carrying gun. And as more and more people get meaningfully engaged, you will find people telling themselves that they must follow the right path to live.

We learnt that the government is still owing the NDDC a backlog.

Yes, at the moment, I don’t know if I should say that we are being owed. But based on the calculation of the 15 per cent, we can say that government owes the commission about half a trillion naira. That has piled up over the years but I must say that under this late Yar’Adua/Jonathan’s presidency, the Commission got all that was due to it in 2009. And that is a remarkable improvement in funding.

What are you doing to maximise efficiency in the NDDC?

When I assumed office at the commission, I told everyone that staff welfare will be given a priority because I believe that a happy and well-motivated staff will provide better result. Since my assumption of duty, we have reviewed salaries upward and promoted those who were due for promotion. We have also looked at people who acquired new certificates while on the job and have moved them up. We have looked into the issue of allowances and sorted it out. And we have ensured that salaries are paid when due and have taken prompt action to settle whatever friction or discontent is being raised by the unions, thus ensuring there is peace and industrial harmony.

What is the total strength of the workforce?

It is about 1,230. But I have insisted that people should be provided with tools to work. Consequently, we have deployed our intranet and made payment and document verification easier. We have also continued to work to ensure that contractors are paid promptly. Before now, computer programme here was more of appreciation but we have given specific emphasis to our engineers and accountants and other professionals such that all our staff are aided to work more easily and effectively, with better skills. So, I would say that we are being more professional in our approach by modifying some of the things that were here before I came in order to create more complete professionals that are appropriately empowered to work. It is a form of opening up more opportunities for the workforce. And because this is more of an oil and gas area, we have concluded arrangement with a company to train about 65 youths in drilling engineering. And the good part of it is that the company, Pauliza Limited, has assured us that as soon as the training is complete, they would employ 10 out of the 65 immediately and they would also help seek jobs for the remaining ones. Just last month, we sponsored an under-16 tennis clinic and tournament for the Niger Delta states. This is because we are aware that not everybody can be good in academics, so they can go into sports.

‘We (NDDC) discovered that if teachers are not given constant refresher courses, the pupils and students could be affected by obsolete teaching methods. We feel that if they are not trained and retrained, they may not deliver well. They need to be acquainted with modern teaching systems and we are doing this in all the nine states’

In another three years to come, with you on the driver’s seat, what do you think will happen in the Niger Delta?

In three years’ time, we want to see a Niger Delta that has grown beyond what I will call low Niger Delta. All things being equal, we should be exporting rice rather than importing it. Last year for instance, the Nigerian government imported rice worth $2.8 billion. You can imagine if that money is coming into the Niger Delta and the boost it would give to the national economy. In terms of skills, we are going to have a whole lot of people who now have the requisite skills, skills that are in demand, to provide services in this country and, therefore, grease the wheels of national development. We will begin to see companies that will depend on competent Nigerian skills where Nigerians will build bridges, build houses and get involved in many things. I believe that with planning and cooperation of all the stakeholders in this Niger Delta enterprise, we’ll surely get there. The Commission is ready to make the necessary impact by carrying out development holistically in all departments of human endeavours in the region. God help us!