The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), through its Community and Rural Development Directorate, has organized a-one day capacity building for Traditional Rulers of Oil Producing Communities of Niger Delta (TROMPCON) on Akwa Ibom State.
The event which took place on Wednesday December 4, at the Royal Majesty Realm Hotel, Uyo, had as its theme; “Capacity Building on Emerging Trends in Rural Governance.”
Presenting a paper on “Managing Stakeholders Collaboration to Promote Peace and Development in our Communities”, the Chief Consultant, Wealthline Nigeria Limited, Benson Eghaire, PhD, noted that the call by NDDC for interaction and capacity building of Traditional Rulers is a fulfillment that, “together we can make a difference.”
Eghaire described traditional rulers as key to community development, but however decried that good governance is still low in communities as leaders still pass bulk of their responsibilities to government.
He urged Traditional Rulers to imbibe modern trends of managing communities by identifying all the social groups, strengthen and work with them.
“The choice of the state chapter executive is intentional such that you will have the responsibility to triple the message down the line of members.
“The import of capacity building is for effective participation in the planning, budget and project ownership conceptualization which is complementary to donor effort.”
On ways and means of driving peace and development process, Eghaire called on Traditional Rulers to map out human resources of their communities and class them into various platforms as community strength as well as have a vibrant trained ICT personnel.
Presenting a paper on, “Fostering Sustainable Peace in Niger Delta Communities: Leveraging Peace Building Skills on Traditional Rulers”, Dr. Evelyn Orji urged traditional rulers to resort back to the use of taboos and oath; restorative justice; sanctions and punishment; youth engagement; education and socialisation in conflict management.
She said the training was pertinent as it will further broaden traditional rulers’ knowledge on conflict management.
Another presenter, Carol Ebuta Ph.D, appealed to traditional rulers to leverage on cultural legitimacy for trust-building, establish community council with diverse stakeholder representation, and encourage accountability and transparency through traditional governance mechanism.
She presented peace index within the Niger Delta region in the last 20 years, and disclosed that amnesty programme declared by late President Yar’Adua was a defining action that heralded greater peace in the region.
Responding to issues raised, the Paramount Ruler of Eket Local Government Area, His Royal Majesty, Edidem E. C. D Abia, called on the NDDC to look into the construction of Calabar-Itu High way.
The monarch said, such project, if done, will make a lot of difference in the life of people from Akwa Ibom and Cross River States.
