Dr. Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has described the late Chief Albert Korubo Horsfall, OFR, as one of the foundational figures in the institutional development of the Niger Delta, saying his contribution went beyond his tenure as pioneer Chairman of the Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC).

Audu-Ohwavborua, in a tribute to the late elder statesman, said Horsfall’s leadership at OMPADEC represented an important beginning in the federal government’s organised intervention in the development challenges of oil-producing communities, stressing that the NDDC of today remained connected to the institutional foundation he helped establish.

According to him, “Chief Horsfall was much more than the pioneer Executive Chairman of the Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC). He was one of the foundational figures in the institutional story of Niger Delta development.”

He said the significance of Horsfall’s legacy was underscored by the fact that the NDDC Board and Management gathered at its headquarters in Port Harcourt on Thursday, September 24, 2026, to sign the condolence register in his honour.

Audu-Ohwavborua noted that the headquarters itself provided a powerful physical connection to Horsfall’s legacy, recalling that “Chief Horsfall was at the helm of OMPADEC in the formative years of that intervention” and had laid the foundation stone of the NDDC headquarters building in 1995.

He explained that, decades later, he was privileged to participate in the completion of the abandoned headquarters project, recalling that the NDDC Management under the leadership of then Managing Director/CEO, Obong Nsima Ekere, took steps in 2017 to revive the project, with the Federal Executive Council subsequently approving its re-award.

“By 2019, under my watch as Director, PMS, we achieved practical completion of the project to the glory of God,” he stated.

For Audu-Ohwavborua, that history gave the condolence ceremony an unusual significance, because the man whose leadership helped establish the early institutional framework for Niger Delta development was being remembered inside a building that itself formed part of the continuum of that intervention.

“Thus, in a very real sense, the NDDC of today stands within a continuum of an idea to which Chief Horsfall gave leadership at a critical moment in the history of the Niger Delta,” he said.

The former NDDC boss also highlighted Horsfall’s extensive national service before his OMPADEC assignment, describing him as a police officer, pioneer member of the former National Security Organisation (NSO), pioneer Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and second Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), now the Department of State Services.

Audu-Ohwavborua said those positions placed Horsfall at the centre of critical stages in the development of Nigeria’s security and intelligence institutions, adding that his contributions therefore extended beyond the Niger Delta to the broader history of the Nigerian state.

He further recalled that Horsfall’s role in OMPADEC came at a critical period when the Niger Delta was grappling with the developmental consequences of oil exploration and exploitation.

“Chief Horsfall became its pioneer Chairman and was therefore entrusted with the difficult task of translating a national policy response into tangible development across the oil-producing areas,” he said.

Audu-Ohwavborua stressed that although OMPADEC was eventually replaced by the NDDC under the NDDC Act of 2000, the change in institutional name did not erase the foundational work of the earlier intervention.

“Institutions evolve. Names change. Acts of Parliament are enacted. Administrations come and go. Boards and management teams succeed one another. But the foundational ideas that give birth to institutions endure,” he stated.

He added: “Chief Horsfall was one of the men who stood at that foundation.”

Beyond Horsfall’s official positions, Audu-Ohwavborua described him as a man whose public life cut across national security, intelligence, regional development, traditional leadership and public affairs, noting his links with the Kalabari Kingdom and the wider Niger Delta.

Reflecting on the condolence ceremony, the former NDDC Managing Director said the gathering of former Managing Directors and Chief Executives of the Commission, as well as former OMPADEC officials, demonstrated the breadth of Horsfall’s influence on the institutional history of the region.

“We were not merely gathered to mourn a former public officer and a boss,” he said. “We were gathered to honour a forebear in the institutional journey of a Commission that has become one of the most consequential development institutions in the Niger Delta.”

Audu-Ohwavborua also commended the NDDC Governing Board and Management, led by Chairman Chiedu Ebie and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Samuel Ogbuku, for organising the ceremony.

He particularly praised Ogbuku for what he described as the sensitivity to preserve the institutional memory of the Commission by honouring people whose contributions helped shape its history.

In his concluding reflection, Audu-Ohwavborua said Horsfall’s legacy would survive in Nigeria’s intelligence services, the history of OMPADEC, the evolution of the NDDC, the Niger Delta communities and the Kalabari Kingdom.

“The measure of a life is ultimately not the number of titles one accumulated, but the enduring imprint one leaves behind,” he said.

“Chief Albert K. Horsfall left an imprint. He served Nigeria. He served the Niger Delta. He served his people. And he helped lay foundations upon which others would build.”

Audu-Ohwavborua concluded that Horsfall’s death should therefore be viewed not only as a moment of mourning but also as an opportunity to remember the generation of public servants whose work established institutions upon which subsequent generations have built.

“A great tree has fallen,” he said. “But the forest remembers. The Niger Delta remembers. Nigeria remembers.”

The NDDC has separately acknowledged Horsfall’s contribution, describing him as a pioneering figure whose leadership at OMPADEC helped lay the foundation for institutional intervention in the development of oil-producing communities. The Commission has also announced that its ancillary building would be named after him in recognition of his contribution to Niger Delta development. (NDDC⁠)