The North East Development Commission (NEDC) has commenced its 2026 Excellence Forum in Maiduguri, Borno State, with a renewed focus on strengthening the people, systems and processes underpinning development delivery across the North-East.
The three-day forum, which runs from September 14 to 16, brings together staff at Levels 6–13 from the Commission’s headquarters and State Offices to examine how quality, accountability, integrity and improved service delivery can be translated into everyday practice.
The forum follows the Commission’s certification to five International Organization for Standardization (ISO) management system standards covering Quality Management, Environmental Management, Occupational Health and Safety, Anti-Bribery Management, and Sustainable Development in Communities.
Speaking on the initiative, NEDC Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mohammed Goni Alkali, said the value of the certifications would ultimately depend on their impact on the Commission’s operations and the quality of development delivered to communities.
“For us, excellence must ultimately be measured by the quality of development we deliver to the people of the North-East. Our ISO certifications established important standards, but the real work is ensuring that those standards are reflected in how we work, how we serve and how we deliver,” he said.
According to the Commission, the focus of the forum is therefore not merely on certification but on implementation, with participants engaging in practical exercises, simulations, collaborative problem-solving and workplace situations.
NEDC said stronger institutional systems and capable personnel were critical to the successful delivery of roads, schools, healthcare facilities, water projects, livelihood programmes and other interventions across the region.
It added that improving internal processes, strengthening accountability and promoting cross-functional collaboration would enhance the Commission’s ability to deliver on its development mandate.
The Commission said the Excellence Forum was designed to make quality, integrity, accountability and continuous improvement part of its everyday institutional culture.
It stressed that institutional excellence was an ongoing process, noting that ISO certification provided a framework for improvement, while implementation, monitoring and continuous review remained essential.
NEDC said the ultimate measure of its institutional reform efforts would be whether they translated into more effective, accountable and sustainable development outcomes for communities across the North-East.
