The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has urged the traditional rulers in the Niger Delta region to step up their collaboration and support to the Commission in ensuring the sustainable development of the region.

Speaking during the Annual Strategic Consultative Feedback Forum for Traditional Rulers in the Niger Delta Region, the NDDC Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, stated that the guidance and support of the traditional rulers were critical to sustainable development.

Ogbuku, who was represented by the NDDC Executive Director, Corporate Governance, Hon. Ifedayo Abegunde, described the traditional rulers as ?essential partners? in the development process.

He declared: ?You are our essential partners in the quest for sustainable development in the Niger Delta Region. This forum is designed to gather valuable feedback from our traditional institutions, enabling us to understand your communities' needs and priorities, first-hand. Through this interactive dialogue, we aim to compile community-based needs assessments, pinpoint critical areas for intervention, and enhance our collaboration in fostering inclusive, people-centred development.

?We understand that we can't truly develop the Niger Delta without your guidance, support, and input. You, our esteemed traditional rulers, are the genuine voices of your people and the guardians of their hopes and dreams.

?We genuinely believe that this ongoing collaboration will yield more meaningful outcomes and help us achieve our overarching goals of sustainable development, peace, and prosperity for the region."

He also observed: ?The traditional institution remains the closest to the people. The institution is trusted, respected, and uniquely positioned to mediate, guide, and reconcile the controversies we experience among ourselves. Today, more than ever, your role is essential in bridging.

?We must therefore strengthen our local conflict resolution mechanisms; reviving traditional councils, promoting inclusive dialogue that engages men, women, and youth, and ensuring that grievances are addressed swiftly and fairly. Let us also encourage collaboration between traditional institutions and government agencies, civil society, and security forces, built on mutual respect and shared purpose.

?The future of the Niger Delta depends on the peace of its communities. Development cannot thrive amid division. Let this forum renew our collective will to pursue peace, not as a temporary truce, but as a culture and way of life.?

Delivering his address, the National Chairman of the Traditional Rulers of Oil Mineral Producing Communities of Nigeria, TROMPCON, and Chairman, Delta State Council of Traditional Rulers, King Felix Mujakperuo, the Orodje of Okpe described peace as a pre-requisite for development.

The TROMPCON Chairman, represented by the Pere of Akugbene-Mein Kingdom, and the First Vice Chairman, Delta State Traditional Rulers Council, King Pere Luke Kalanama remarked that peace-building was necessary for sustainable development.

Furthermore, he stated that traditional rulers in contiguous kingdoms should be constituted into conflict management committees for conflict resolution, remarking that conflict resolution is necessary for conflict management.

Speaking on how the Commission could benefit rural communities, the Chairman of the South-South Monarchs Forum and the monarch of Emohua, King Sergeant Awuse, argued that one cannot offer feedback on any programme unless he was carried along from the inception. Decrying a situation in which traditional rulers are not part of project conception, formulation, and execution, he further remarked that this remains inimical to effective project delivery and, by extension, to the sustainable development of the Niger Delta Region.

In his own remarks, the Amayanabo of Twon Brass, King Alfred Diette-Spiff, described peace as the main prerequisite for development. While laying credence to views canvassed by previous speakers, King Spiff said that traditional rulers should be given their pride of place in the Nigerian Constitution. He likened today?s traditional rulers to school children whose names do not appear in the school register, wondering why the Nigerian Constitution denied them the roles hitherto assigned to them in previous constitutions.

"Development," he said, "should be technically driven as is the practice in Britain and other Western nations.? He stated that the Niger Delta could be turned into an industrial hub with various areas of specialisation, including the marine industry, construction, agriculture, and fisheries.

?PHOTO: NDDC Executive Director Corporate Services, Hon. Ifedayo Abegunde, 3rd left, in a handshake with the 1st vice Chairman, Delta State, Council of Traditional Rulers, King Pere Luke, during the NDDC annual Strategic Consultative/Feedback forum for Traditional Rulers in the Niger Delta Region, held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. From left are the Paramount Ruler of Emohua, King Ohna Sergeant Awuse; the Amayanabo of Twon-Brass, King Alfred Diete Spiff; while on the right is the Odozi Obodo II Assa Kingdom in Ohaji, Imo State, Eze Emmanuel Assor.

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