Meet Lauretta Onochie, Chairman of the NDDC Governing Board

Lauretta Onochie is the seventh chairman of the Governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. Significantly, she is the first woman to be so appointed. She is thus a trailblazer who has earned a place in history as an amazon of the Niger Delta.

Born on July 9, 1959, she hails from Onicha-Olona in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State but spent most of her formative years in Calabar, Cross River State. Her parents were raised there. She is proficient in her mother tongue and the language of the area where she grew up. These attributes have imbued her with a pan-Niger Delta outlook that transcends primordial boundaries among people with a common heritage and binding patrimony.

Her childhood days included trips that took her from one state to another in the country. She started her educational pursuits at St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Onicha-Olona. She attended St. Martin De Porres Girls’ Grammar School, where she obtained the West African School Certificate (WASC) in 1977.

Lauretta Onochie’s academic credentials include degrees in Elementary Education, Business Education, and Post Compulsory Education and Training (PCET). She began her tertiary education at the University of Benin (Institute of Education), receiving a National Certificate of Education in 1982. She moved to the University of Calabar and got a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) in 1998. She also holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (Post Compulsory Education and Training in 2005) from the University of Greenwich in the United Kingdom.

In addition, she has certificates from Harvard University’s programmes in Humanitarian Response to Conflict and Disaster and the Health Effects of Climate Change.

She began her working career at the defunct Savannah Bank of Nigeria. She has occupied several important leadership positions and has worked as a Lecturer and Skills Trainer in the United Kingdom. She was also involved in active politics in the United Kingdom.

Before becoming NDDC Chairman, she had been the Personal Assistant to the President on social media since 2016, building a daunting profile of remarkable achievements and global fame. In her previous role, she committed to sanitizing the new media in the country and establishing a new idiom for its practice in the Nigerian space. She is indeed a beacon in the uncharted territory of the social media landscape.

A woman and professional of abiding commitment to ideals, she is well known for her years of unwavering loyalty to President Buhari’s cause to promote integrity, quality service delivery, and gender equity, especially in the political spectrum. More notably, she is known for her unflinching support for the President’s Niger Delta agenda, which is to facilitate a new Niger Delta of which all would be proud.

She has a vast knowledge of the Niger Delta region and is passionate about good governance and accountability. Lauretta Onochie’s pedigree and her determination to build consensus among stakeholders as Chairman of the NDDC put her in good stead to lead the revival of the hopes of the people of the oil-rich region.

She is married and has lovely children and grandchildren.