Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, said the Commission needs sustainable partnerships to enhance the lives of the people and contribute to development of the region.

Ogbuku stated this, yesterday, when he hosted a delegation from the Stanbic IBTC Bank at the NDDC headquarters, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He said the Commission would collaborate with partners that bring feasible and long-term solutions to development challenges in the region.

Ogbuku said: “Right now, our core policy focus is partnerships that will bring positive changes to the Niger Delta. We are working on our internal governance systems to ensure that we comply with global best practices.

“Partnerships should not be solely profit-driven. Sustainability should be at the forefront of whatever we are doing. We require a mutually beneficial partnership that would outlive our tenure.”

The NDDC boss stressed the need for adequate funding, urging the Stanbic IBTC delegation to come up with solutions that would boost activities of NDDC and its staff cooperative society, as well as the NDDC Staff Microfinance Bank.

He informed the visitors that the Commission was supporting the staff cooperative to raise the NDDC Staff Microfinance Bank to a regional microfinance bank. He called on the delegation to assist the agency’s Staff Microfinance Bank as a means of building a sustainable relationship with the Commission.

Speaking earlier, the leader of the delegation and Country Head, Public Sector Group, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Hadjia Hauwa Bello, commended Ogbuku for successes recorded since he took the leadership mantle at the agency. She informed the NDDC boss that the bank’s delegation was at the Commission’s headquarters to partner with the agency, its staff cooperative society and the staff microfinance bank, as well as provide its financial services, support and solutions to the Commission and its staff.