Timi Alaibe

Human capacity development in the Niger Delta Region will benefit immensely from partnerships and collaborations between the region and international institutions committed to blending academic excellence with practical skills.

The Executive Director, Finance and Administration, of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mr. Timi Alaibe, made this assertion in Cambridge, England, at the weekend, where he received an Honorary Doctor of Business Administration (Finance and Administration) of the Irish International University.

Mr. Alaibe said such collaboration would help develop leaders for the Niger Delta region, as well as help create an international workforce which will be equipped to meet the local and global challenges of the millennium.

Mr. Alaibe, who was honoured along with the Governor of Lagos State, Chief Bola Tinubu, said the award was in recognition of his “modest service as a member of the Governing Board of the NDDC,” in addressing the daunting challenges of facilitating infrastructural and human development in the Niger Delta Region.

“We have had to combine fiscal prudence, synergy and innovation in the management of available public funds. Such a gesture as this honorary award can only propel us to work harder, continuously improve fiscal efficiency, and impact more effectively on our mandate communities,” he said.

Mr. Alaibe dedicated the award to “the resilient, hopeful communities of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria,” and to President Olusegun Obasanjo, whom, he said, “provided me and my colleagues on the Board and Management of the NDDC, with the opportunity for a unique brand of public service.”

He said that as a result, NDDC has gained considerable goodwill from community elders, women groups and youths alike, “as we work with them to engender development and restore hope.”

Mr. Alaibe, who also received the Cambridge Association of Manager’s Certified Strategist Lifetime Award, as well as the Distinguished Fellowship of the Academy of Commercial Diplomacy, is the pioneer recipient of the honorary professional doctorate degree in the area of Finance and Administration from the University.

In their letter announcing the award, The Executive Senate Committee of the university noted that the award goes to “individuals who have put in great efforts and have contributed greatly to their areas of specialization. These people have achieved the highest level of skills and expertise and have contributed tremendously towards the good and well being of their nation, state and their people.”

The university noted that Mr. Alaibe’s hard work and contribution to the field as the Executive Director (Finance and Administration) “of your institution (Niger Delta Development Commission), earned you the experience and expertise to be the pioneer in this specialized field.”

Among former recipients of the university’s honorary degree include the Prime Minister Cambodia, Samdech Hun Sen, Professor Mike Harvey, Council Member of the Association of Chartered Accountants, United Kingdom, as well as Dr. Hans J. Kempe, Nobel Prize nominee from Switzerland.

This would be the third international recognition coming to Mr. Alaibe in the past four months. Last July, he was the guest of the Defence and Security Forum, United Kingdom, where he delivered a paper on “Security and Sustainable Development in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria,” while only last month, he was at the Leadership Roundtable of the US-Africa Partnership, as part of the annual Ronald H. Brown African Affairs Series of the Black Congressional Caucus, the United States of America, where he delivered a paper on “Peace and Development in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria.”