Senate President Godswill Akpabio has attributed the persistent challenges plaguing the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to internal disunity and leadership crises within the organisation.
Speaking in Port Harcourt on Saturday at the grand finale of the NDDC’s 25th anniversary celebration, Akpabio stated that the Commission’s operations have been undermined by internal power struggles and a lack of cohesion among successive management teams.
According to him, over 17,500 projects initiated by the Commission were abandoned due to frequent leadership changes and administrative instability.
“In the Niger Delta, we face a peculiar form of politics – a kind of ‘politics of the same head’ – where everyone believes they should be in charge and no one is willing to step aside for another,” he said.
Akpabio noted that successive NDDC management teams often conspired against one another, a situation compounded by entrenched interests within the organisation. “Each new management team comes in and is sabotaged from within, with insiders instigating conflicts. Eventually, the leadership is ousted, and the cycle repeats, sometimes even with the saboteurs emerging as acting Managing Directors.”
Recalling his tenure as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Akpabio disclosed that the Commission had operated for over two decades from a rented building on Aba Road, Port Harcourt, for ₦300 million annually—without access to the national electricity grid.
He maintained that resolving the leadership crisis and fostering unity among stakeholders is critical to the effective functioning of the NDDC.
