The Chairman of the Governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chiedu Ebie, has charged law students in the Niger Delta to develop strong advocacy skills and deploy their legal knowledge in addressing the region’s developmental challenges.
Ebie gave the charge while addressing participants at the 2026 NDDC Moot Court and Mock Trial Competition for universities in the Niger Delta Region, held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
He said the competition was designed not only to strengthen the courtroom skills and confidence of aspiring lawyers but also to prepare them to use legal advocacy as an instrument for sustainable development across the Niger Delta.
“It is our expectation that this competition lays the foundation for the advocacy skills young legal minds will need to draw attention to the challenges of our region, even at this early stage of their careers,” Ebie said.
The NDDC chairman, who noted that he was attending the competition for the second time after participating in an earlier edition two years ago, stressed the importance of practical courtroom training in legal education.
“As a lawyer of nearly four decades’ experience, I fully appreciate the cardinal importance of Moot Court and Mock Trial competitions in the academic curriculum of law students, and the strategic role they play in shaping and building the confidence of young legal minds,” he said.
According to him, the competitions provide students with an opportunity to move beyond classroom theory and acquire practical advocacy, legal research and courtroom presentation skills that would prove valuable throughout their professional careers.
NDDC Restores Annual Competition
Ebie disclosed that although the NDDC Moot Court Competition was originally conceived as an annual programme, its regular organisation had been disrupted by various setbacks.
He said the current seventh Governing Board had restored the programme to its annual cycle, making the 2026 edition the third consecutive competition approved and organised under the board.
He said the consistency reflected the board’s commitment to education and human capital development as essential instruments for transforming the Niger Delta.
“We have been deliberate as a Board about our interventions in the educational and human capacity development of the people of this region,” Ebie said.
He listed the repositioning of the NDDC’s foreign and domestic postgraduate scholarship programmes, alongside the provision of roads, hostels, desks and other learning facilities in higher institutions across the region, among the commission’s interventions in education.
Ebie Urges Students to Embrace Artificial Intelligence
The NDDC chairman also urged the participants to pay close attention to emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), which he said was rapidly transforming the legal profession.
He stressed the need for legal education in the Niger Delta to adapt to technological developments and prepare young lawyers for an increasingly digital professional environment.
“Law and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are in a rapid years competition. Everyone is indeed a legal winner,” he said, calling on legal education institutions in the region to “dynamically adapt quickly and embrace this global shift and trend”.
Ebie said the NDDC’s commitment to legal education was also demonstrated through the Law and Development Summit recently convened by the commission, which brought together legal practitioners, academics and development experts to examine the relationship between law and sustainable development.
He described the Moot Court and Mock Trial Competition as an extension of that vision, particularly in developing a new generation of legal practitioners capable of using the law to contribute meaningfully to the development of the Niger Delta.
Competition Promotes Regional Integration
Also speaking, the Director of Legal Services at the NDDC, Sir Victor Arenyeka, described the annual competition as an important platform for bringing together law students from universities across the Niger Delta.
Arenyeka said the programme exposes participants to areas of law of particular relevance to the region, including environmental law, oil and gas law, petroleum industry legislation and sustainable development.
He described the Moot Court system as “a key vehicle in legal education”, noting that it promotes teamwork, networking, intellectual development and regional integration among participating universities.
He commended Ebie and the NDDC Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, for ensuring the annual organisation of the competition over the past three years.
Arenyeka also expressed appreciation to the Special Guest of Honour, retired Supreme Court Justice Mary Ukaego Peter-Odili, and the Guest of Honour, former Nigerian Bar Association President Olumide Akpata, as well as the judges, panellists, consultants and other partners who contributed to the success of the programme.
He said the NDDC’s collaboration with universities and other stakeholders through the competition formed part of a broader effort to harness legal education and advocacy as tools for sustainable development in the Niger Delta.
The competition brought together law students from universities across the region to test their advocacy, legal research, courtroom presentation and teamwork abilities in a competitive but academically focused environment.
The NDDC said continued investment in legal education and human capital development remained central to its broader objective of equipping young people in the Niger Delta with the knowledge, skills and confidence required to contribute to the region’s development.
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