The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has moved to curb project delays and abandonment in the Niger Delta, urging contractors and consultants to identify and resolve disputes before they escalate and derail development projects.

The commission made the call during a three-day sensitisation programme organised by its Alternative Dispute Resolution, ADR, Department for contractors and consultants handling NDDC projects across the region.

The programme, themed “Conflict Sensitivity and ADR Application in Project Execution for Sustainable Development in the Niger Delta,” focused on communication, negotiation and the use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to prevent disagreements from becoming prolonged disputes.

Declaring the programme open, NDDC Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Samuel Ogbuku, represented by the Executive Director, Corporate Services, Ifedayo Abegunde, identified disputes over payment, project variations, designs, timelines, quality of work, measurements, site access, contractual obligations and relationships with host communities as potential threats to project delivery.

Ogbuku urged contractors and consultants to build the capacity to recognise early warning signs, communicate effectively, negotiate and seek timely intervention before disputes delay or derail projects.

He said the objective was to ensure that disagreements were handled promptly and professionally, keeping projects on course and enabling communities to receive development interventions within the expected timeframe.

Ogbuku said, “Conflict may be inevitable, but its escalation is not. In the course of implementing development projects, disagreements will sometimes arise over payment, variations, designs, timelines, quality of work, measurements, access to sites, contractual obligations and relationships with host communities. What matters is how quickly and professionally such disagreements are identified and managed.”

He stressed that NDDC projects went beyond contractual obligations, noting that communities depended on roads, bridges, schools, health facilities and other interventions to improve their livelihoods.

“Behind every road is a community waiting for access. Behind every bridge is an economic opportunity. Behind every school, health facility or other intervention is a human need. When conflict stalls a project, the cost is therefore not limited to the contractor or the Commission. The real cost is borne by the people who are waiting for development,” he said.

The NDDC boss warned that unresolved disputes could trigger delays, increased project costs, strained relationships with contractors and host communities, litigation and claims.

He described contractors and consultants as “critical first responders” in conflict management because of their proximity to project sites and host communities.

According to him, negotiation, mediation, conciliation, adjudication and arbitration provide structured avenues for resolving disputes, depending on their nature and circumstances.

He added that ADR was not intended to undermine accountability or legitimate contractual and legal rights, but to ensure that emerging problems were addressed intelligently, proportionately and as early as possible.

Earlier, the Director of the ADR Department, Godwin Ayewumi Ogedegbe, said the programme was designed against the backdrop of the complex social, economic and environmental realities of the Niger Delta, which could generate tensions capable of undermining development projects.

Ogedegbe said conflict sensitivity required project implementers to understand the dynamics of host communities and ensure that development interventions did not inadvertently deepen existing divisions.

He said ADR offered structured and peaceful mechanisms for resolving disputes through dialogue, fairness and mutual respect rather than confrontation and litigation.

“As contractors and consultants, you are the executors of developmental initiatives. You stand at the intersection between policy and practice, between vision and reality,” he said.

Ogedegbe added that the ability of contractors and consultants to integrate conflict-sensitive approaches and ADR frameworks into project execution would influence the success and sustainability of development projects in the Niger Delta.

In his presentation, Professor Isaac Olawale Albert of the Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ibadan, outlined measures the NDDC could institutionalise to strengthen conflict-sensitive project execution.

Albert recommended incorporating conflict-sensitivity requirements into bid documents, inception reports and supervision templates, alongside standardised ADR clauses and clear dispute-escalation timelines.

He also called for baseline stakeholder maps and conflict-risk registers for high-risk projects, independent mediation or dispute-board rosters, and performance indicators covering grievance resolution, project stoppage days and stakeholder trust.

Albert further advocated periodic reviews of lessons learnt across the commission’s project portfolio, urging contractors, consultants, communities and the NDDC to treat conflict management as a core project delivery competence.

“Our shared obligation is clear: anticipate tensions, engage people with dignity, resolve disputes at the lowest effective level and keep development moving,” he said.

The programme equipped participants with practical skills to identify conflicts, understand their causes, manage difficult conversations, prevent unnecessary escalation and determine when formal intervention is required.