Communities’ Assessment of the Quality of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Road, Water and Electricity Projects in Selected Communities in Imo State Nigeria
Alphonsus O. Isidiho, Prof. Dr. Mohammad Shatar B. Sabran

Abstract
Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is a Commission set up by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2000 with a mandate to“facilitate the rapid, even and sustainable development of the Niger Delta into a region that is economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful”. Based on this mission, the Commission since inception has been handling a lot of developmental projects till date though some of their projects lack acceptability and while many are abandoned till date. This study examined the communities’ assessment of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) public utility projects on water, electricity and roads in the selected communities of Ohaji/Egbema, Oguta and Obowo in Imo State with a view of evaluating the satisfactory quality of these projects. The much publicized issue of low quality jobs handled by NDDC contractors, high rate of abandoned projects here and there makes it necessary for evaluation of the few projects the commission was able to complete. The assessment here is based on the perception of the citizens living in these communities and this gives a true and first hand assessment of the quality of these projects which in most cases differs from the contractor’s, the commission’s and the government’s report. A mixed method approach was used in this study and survey design technique adopted. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed to the participants, five telephone interviews and nine face to face interviews were conducted. The results from the data indicated that many of the projects on roads, and electricity were below the normal acceptable standards while the water projects were rated better and of good quality compared with the other sources of water in the study area which were mainly streams, rivers, wells, and underground man made water reservoirs.

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