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Godwin Chukwumaechi, Port Harcourt.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, has urged communities in the Niger Delta region to sustain the current peaceful environment in the region.
Ogbuku who stated this in Port Harcourt, at a one-day capacity building programme for stakeholders in the region on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and inclusive peace for sustainable development, noted that without peace the Niger Delta region would not move forward.
The programme, with the theme: “Fostering Lasting Peace Through ADR: Lessons From The Past, Building Future Opportunities To Advance The Renewed Hope Agenda”, was organised by the commission’s Department of Dispute and Conflict Resolution.
The NDDC boss, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Rev. Omeya Owoibo, urged the stakeholders made up mostly of youth leaders to go back to their various communities and preach the gospel of peace.
He said, “Today, we are here gathered in this capacity building workshop for stakeholders in the region on how we can manage ourselves to be peaceful because without peace development will not come our way.
“Recently, NDDC has been commissioning projects in different states of the region and this is possible because of the peace being observed among different youths, different women and elders in our communities.
“Without that peace, things will not go forward, so we are here to reinforce the saying that peace must be present for development to be achieved.
“I’m impressed with the array of leaders gathered here to say how do we go about keeping this peace that has come to us, the days of we no go gree are over. Here in NDDC, we now prefer people who dialogue, than those who threaten us.
“As leaders in your own right, my appeal to you this morning is to take the message here back to your various communities, clans and see that peace continues reigning,” Ogbuku added.
“We are here to reinforce the saying that peace must be present for things to move forward. Here in NDDC, we prefer people who can talk to us than threaten us. We want you to go back to your various communities and let them know that peace is now reigning in the Niger Delta region.”
In his welcome address, acting director, Department of Dispute and Conflict Resolution, Godwin Ogedegbe, said the theme of the capacity building programme calls in Niger Deltans to reflect on how to leverage on ADR to translate policy intentions into tangible, peaceful and prosperous outcome for communities that have borne tgd brunt of conflict for far too long.
Ogbedegbe added that the aim of the programme is also to leverage on ADR in achieving intangible peaceful and prosperous outcomes for communities that have borne the brunt of conflict for too long.
He said, “Today, we gather with a shared commitment to enhance the power of alternative dispute resolution, ADR, as a critical instrument for sustaining peace, unlocking development and advancing the renewed hope agenda and economic reform agenda of Mr. President across the Niger Delta and beyond.
“We stand at a consequential moment in our national journey. The theme before us “Fostering Lasting Peace Through ADR: Lessons From The Past, Building Future Opportunities To Advance The Renewed Hope Agenda” calls us to reflect deeply on what has worked, what must be reinforced, and how we can leverage ADR to translate policy intentions into intangible peaceful and prosperous outcomes for communities that have borne the brunt of conflict for too long.
“I intend to reflect my MD/ CEO’s quote that anchors our discourse today, that the renewed hope and economic reform agenda of Mr. President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is a social contract in the form of induction we entered in NDDC with the commitment of ensuring the vision of the renewed hope agenda is being transformed into reality in the Niger Delta region with infrastructure and human capital developments.”
Speaking with journalists at the event, one of the participants, the Bayelsa governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, Udengs Eradiri, appreciated President Bola Tinubu for appointing a stable board in the NDDC, adding that it has helped to foster peace in the region.
