The Minister of Regional Development, Abubakar Momoh, says the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) will continue to function as an independent structure within the Federal Ministry of Regional Development.
Clarifying the status of the Agency, Momoh said that the Federal Executive Council only changed the nomenclature of the former Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Development to accommodate all newly created Regional Commissions as established by the laws of the National Assembly.
The Minister who made this clarification on Wednesday, while briefing State House Correspondents on the re-designation of the Ministry explained that the change of name of the Ministry of Niger Delta will not reduce the the responsibility of the federal government to cater for the needs of the people of the region.
“The status quo remains as regards the operation of all agencies under the former Ministry of Niger Delta. The change is to facilitate better supervision.”. He said,
According to the Minister, the Niger Delta region which is just within the 7 Delta States , will be supervised by the ministry of Regional Development, alongside other recently created and regional development commissions by the National Assembly. The commissions include the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), North West Development Commission (NWDC), South West Development Commission (SWDC), and North East Development Commission (NEDC).
Momoh explained that the NDDC has not been scrapped but that the president and the Federal Executive Council decided to to bring all the regional commissions under a supervising ministry, and assured the people of the Niger Delta region that the Ministry of the Niger Delta has not been scrapped and nothing has changed or anything removed from them.
“All the structures and everything about the Niger data remains is just a change of nomenclature and, of course, expansion of activities of the ministry,” he said.
He said that the vision and foresight of the president was commendable
