The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Samuel Ogbuku, has urged contractors and stakeholders to pursue mutual understanding in project implementation as a mechanism to reduce project delays and legal battles.
He stated this during a three-day sensitisation programme on Conflict Sensitivity and Alternative Dispute Resolution, ADR, held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The workshop brought together key stakeholders, indigenous contractors and project consultants to overhaul traditional dispute management across the region.
For years, many infrastructure projects undertaken by the NDDC for the people of the Niger Delta region have suffered setbacks.
This has been attributed to contractors abandoning project sites due to community demands and prolonged legal battles.
In an effort to address these challenges, the Director of Dispute and Conflict Resolution, Godwin Ogedegbe, says the goal is to equip contractors, consultants and stakeholders with modern skills in conflict profiling, stakeholder mapping, mediation and community-based grievance redress mechanisms.
The Managing Director of the NDDC, Samuel Ogbuku, says dialogue remains a significantly cheaper, faster and more enduring path than prolonged court cases or confrontation.
Some of the keynote speakers urged participants to discard the culture of violent agitation and embrace constructive negotiation to keep development moving.
With the adoption of Alternative Dispute Resolution frameworks, the Commission intends to create a new culture of conflict resolution and a conflict-free environment for project implementation within the Niger Delta region.
(Follow AIT News on WhatsApp, AfricaIndependentTV on YouTube, ait_online on Facebook and X (Formerly Twitter), and officialait on TikTok, Instagram and Threads)
Editor: Ada Ononye
