NDDC to partner UN agency on flood control in N’Delta

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has said it would partner the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) for solutions to challenges of flooding in the Niger Delta region.

NDDC’s Managing Director, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, stated this during a virtual presentation on combating flood challenges in the region by a technical team of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) at the commission’s headquarters, in Port Harcourt.

Ogbuku called on the UN Satellite Centre, hosted at UNITAR, to proffer long-term solutions to environmental challenges, such as flooding, which is facing the region, because temporary solutions were not sustainable, and had become a drainpipe on resources of the Federal Government and its agencies.

He said: “We are open to partnerships in finding a lasting solution to the perennial flood in our region.

“However, as an interventionist agency, we are looking at solving the problems of the Niger Delta permanently, rather than treating the symptoms.”

Ogbuku noted that solving flood challenges of the region could not be addressed by the NDDC alone, as it called for collaboration between the commission and various levels of governments.

Reacting to the proposition from UNITAR to train and certify youths of the Niger Delta in Seafaring, the NDDC boss said: “We are willing to partner you on training seafarers. At NDDC, our focus is not just building physical infrastructures, but also developing human capital.”

Speaking earlier, the former Country Representative of UNITAR, Dr. Larry Boms, observed that 19 UN development agencies in Nigeria are working with various government departments and agencies.

Boms said: “As an interventionist agency, the NDDC is evaluated based on how well it meets the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We propose to train Niger Delta youths in seafaring. German ship owners have offered to train the youths for one year to enable them get their seafaring certifications.”

Also, speaking from Geneva, Switzerland, via video conferencing, the Technical Team Leader, UNOSAT, Olivies Vandamme, said the mission of the UN Satellite Centre was to promote evidence-based decision for peace, security and resilience, using geo-spatial information technologies.