• Insists region needs strategic governance, integrated infrastructure to unlock economic potential
Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
Former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Ndutimi Alaibe said that Niger Delta must urgently move beyond more than six decades of dependence on raw-material extraction and reposition itself as a production, processing, logistics and trading hub for West and Central Africa.
Alaibe, made the assertion yesterday, as lead speaker at the 2026 Niger Delta Economic and Investment Summit organised by the Niger Delta Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Trade, Mines and Agriculture (NDCCITMA) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The former NDDC boss said the region’s persistent poverty and infrastructure deficits, despite decades of oil production, underscored the urgent need for a new development strategy anchored on accountability, economic integration and indigenous enterprise.
He said the fundamental question confronting the region was no longer how much crude oil it could extract, but how effectively it could transform its natural and human resources into sustainable economic opportunities.
“Over six decades of Niger Delta extracting raw materials to the world, and we are still where we are. Poverty in this case has not fundamentally changed.”
According to him, many Niger Delta communities still lack basic infrastructure, healthcare, education and potable water despite the region’s enormous contribution to Nigeria’s oil economy.
Alaibe argued that the development challenge was partly rooted in the failure to connect the region’s historic trading culture with modern infrastructure, finance and markets.
He recalled that long before petroleum, the region was a major trading centre for palm oil, with waterways linking communities such as Bonny, Opobo, Old Calabar and Warri to international markets.
“Petroleum did not create the Niger Delta’s connection to the global economy. It changed the commodity,” he said, stressing that the region must now reclaim its commercial heritage by developing productive industries capable of competing globally.
He cited Aba and the Ariaria International Market as evidence of the region’s enduring entrepreneurial capacity, saying the challenge was to provide businesses with the infrastructure and commercial systems required to scale.
“Our people already know how to produce and trade. The challenge is to build the infrastructure and commercial systems that will allow them to compete at a much larger scale.”
Alaibe said the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presented a major opportunity for Niger Delta businesses, but warned that access to a continental market would mean little without competitive logistics, reliable electricity, product standards, trade finance and efficient customs procedures.
He called for the development of integrated economic corridors rather than isolated infrastructure projects, linking production clusters to ports, airports, processing facilities, warehouses and markets.
“We must stop approaching infrastructure as isolated projects and begin developing economic corridors that connect production centres to processing facilities, logistics platforms and markets.”
The former NDDC chief also identified the region’s waterways as an underutilised economic asset, urging governments to develop navigable channels, jetties, cargo terminals and safer systems for barging and coastal shipping.
He said a properly developed blue economy could support fisheries, aquaculture, marine engineering, ship repair, fabrication and coastal tourism.
On security, Alaibe described it as “economic infrastructure,” arguing that insecurity on port corridors, waterways and industrial zones increases operating costs and discourages investment.
He cited the decline in reported daily crude losses from about 102,900 barrels in 2021 to approximately 9,600 barrels by mid-2025 as evidence of what collaboration among government, security agencies, communities and private operators could achieve.
Alaibe also called for greater accountability in regional development planning, insisting that master plans should not remain policy documents without implementation.
“Plans continue to be planned until they are implemented.”
He advocated stronger legislative backing for strategic regional development plans and urged governments to balance spending on physical infrastructure with direct investments that improve household welfare, education, healthcare, skills and enterprise development.
He further welcomed the emergence of platforms such as the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce to support small and medium-sized enterprises, saying regional development must empower entrepreneurs rather than depend exclusively on government intervention.
Alaibe said the Niger Delta’s next chapter should be defined by value addition and trade.
“We began as a trading region. Oil made us an extraction region. Our next chapter must make us a production and trading powerhouse.”
He urged governments and private investors to connect the region’s farms, factories, waterways, ports, airports and entrepreneurs into a single economic system capable of serving the wider African market.