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Tag: NNDC

  • Why I defected to APC – Akpabio

    Former Senate minority Leader, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, on Wednesday pledged to take the people of Akwa Ibom state and the South South to the centre for meaningful visibilty.

    The 55-year-old former governor of Akwa Ibom formally defected from  the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC) at a mega rally held at the Ikot Ekpene township stadium.

    He told the huge crowd that he decided to join APC because he discovered that President Muhammadu Buhari “is a man of integrity and a nationalist’’.

    Akpabio said that he decided to join a party that would sweep away poverty and impunity.

    He said that he joined APC to help salvage the country.

     

    Read Also: The many battles of Godswill Akpabio

     

    “The country is at war and all the hands must be on deck to salvage the situation and not to aggravate it.

    “As keepers of national emergency, everyone should put heads together. I decided to join to emancipate the people and provide succour for the people.’’

    He said that the PDP of today has no vision and  the leadership is replete with arrogance.

    Earlier, the Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC), Mr. Nsima Ekere, said that change had come to Akwa Ibom and SouthSouth.

    He said that Akwa Ibom has joined the progressive states because the people were dissatisfied with the long misrule of the PDP.

    He said that Akpabio built the people and provided them with infrastructure but the present PDP government was a failure.

    Ekere said that the people have agreed to re-elect  President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.

  • LNG Act vs NNDC Act: How Nass leadership saved the day

    LNG Act vs NNDC Act: How Nass leadership saved the day

    Last month, between the Senate and the House of Representatives, though many Nigerians are not aware, a development occurred which created scare among the international oil and gas companies, particularly subscribers to the LNG project.

    Sometimes last June, Senators from the oil producing South-south geo-political zone protested during plenary that gas producing companies operating in their region are not contributing to the funds that Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) require for development efforts in the oil producing areas. They noted that, unlike oil companies, the gas producing companies are hiding under the pretense that they were not specifically mentioned in Section 14 of the NDDC Act which mandated oil producing companies to contribute three percent of their total annual budget into the coffers of the commission to evade making any contribution.

    While the Senate leadership promised to engage the gas producing companies and ensure that the grouse of their counterparts are redressed, the representatives of the oil producing communities in the House of Representatives decided to take a radical measure. They sponsored a bill to amend the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Act.

    In the amendment, they inserted a clause that the LNG company and other gas producing companies must pay not less than three percent of their annual total budget into the coffers of NNDC as their contributions to the fund. They also included that the percentage should be fixed by the Minister of Petroleum Resources as he may deem fit.

    The implication of the amendment into the LNG Act is that, unlike the situation of the oil companies as contained in the NDDC Act, the percentage of the budget of the gas companies to be contributed into the NDDC may be as high as 10 percent depending on the rate fixed in a particular year by the Minister.

    This realization rang a bell in the ears  of the gas companies. They quickly sent a delegation to the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki  and Speaker Yakubu Dogara seeking their intervention. They explain that the amendment to the LNG Act has grievous operation for the smooth operation of the LNG project and other gas companies and their ability to fulfill the contractual agreement which they have with international buyers of their products as well as the targets already set on the production, sale and development of the products.

    They also added that the uncertainty created by the flexibility of the funds to be contributed into the NDDC makes budgeting and planning difficult for them, a situation not good for their business. Saraki and Dogara, at a meeting with their colleagues during a joint leadership parley of both chambers in Saraki’s house considered the plea of the gas producers. It was then agreed that the House should step down the amendment bill on the LNG Act.

    Rather, it was agreed that both chambers should adopt the NDDC amendment bill which is already before the Senate seeking the inclusion of the gas producing companies in section 14 of the original Act. The section fix the percentage of the budget due to be paid by the oil companies. Thus, the Senate bill passed on Wednesday, November 29, 2017, amends the sub-section 2 (b) of the NDDC principal Act by substituting the existing words. The new provision reads that what will be contributed is 3 percent of – (i) “the total annual budget of any oil producing company operating onshore and offshore, in the Niger Delta area” and (ii) “the total annual budget of any gas processing company operating in the Niger Delta area, excluding the cost of feed gas”.

    With the passage of the NDDC (Establishment) Act 2000 (amendment) Bill 2017, the House has therefore dropped its amendment to the LNG Act. This is a credit to the good relationship between the two chambers of the 8th National Assembly. It also underscores the pro-business and pro-people stance of the present National Assembly, as they seek to balance between national interest and the need for key players in the economy to remain afloat and happy that their investments are not jeopardized by legislations and government policies.

    More important, the leadership of both chambers of the National Assembly have demonstrated their ability for prompt response to issue that affects their constituents and to always ensure that the nation and her people are not short-changed by multi-national companies operating in Nigeria.

    One therefore commend Senator Saraki, Rt. Hon. Dogara and their colleagues for rising to the occasion when necessary and for being able to carry along the people in ensuring that things go on seamlessly in the process of making necessary changes to the law, albeit in overall national interest.

     

    • Quassim is an Abuja based legislative/public policy analyst 

  • Group seeks more funding for NNDC

    The Network Advancement Program and Disaster Risks Reductions (NAPPDRR), an international nongovernmental organisation has impressed on the federal government, the need to strengthen the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) with more funds.

    Speaking in an interview in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital, the President of the group, Hon. Al mustapher Emem Edoho, underscored the importance of continuous development of Niger Delta as a way of achieving sustainable peace in the area.

    “Years of destruction and vandalisation of oil and infrastructure in the region by militants has cost the federal government billions of dollars in oil revenues just because we play politics in even issues that touch our very existence as a people under one nation,” Edoho noted.

    Besides, the group made a case for the implementation of Acting President Yemi Osinbajo’s Executive Order, directing the international oil companies (IOCs), when he visited the region recently, to relocate to their operational bases in Niger Delta.

    The NDDC under the current leadership of Obong Nsima Ekere, as the Managing Director and Senator Victor Ndoma Egba, as the Chairman, the group noted what its described as “speedy interventionist programmes in rural roads,” saying “with more funding, the pace of development will greatly expanded.”

  • NNDC plans to celebrate women  

    NNDC plans to celebrate women  

    The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) will celebrate the achievements of women in the region in commemoration of the 2016 annual International Women’s Day (IWD).

    The acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Mrs. Ibim Semanitari, said: “The NDDC facilitates all-round development of the Niger Delta and its people and the mandate for women development is an aspect that is equally given huge priority with the agency and must not be neglected”.

    ”As part of the agenda for women development in 2016, the commission will mark the International Women’s Day with activities that will help inspire, and celebrate women of the Niger Delta Region and their endeavours.”

    On the rationale for the commission’s celebration of IWD, the Director, Youth and Women Development at the commission, Ephraim Offiong, said: “As part of our plans this year, we have identified major platforms to reach out to the women of the Niger Delta, one of which is a stage drama titled, Little Drops by Professor Yerima.”

    He said the drama, which takes a look at the Niger Delta from the perspective of women – the neglected innocent victims of the war of contradictions in the region, will be performed in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Benin, and Calabar.

  • NDDC yet to respond to N183.7bn indictment, says AGF

    Weeks after the Auditor General of the Federation indicted the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) of not accounting for N183.7 billion, the commission is yet to respond to the indictment.

    A statement released Tuesday by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation and signed by Ogunmosunle, O.A. for the auditor general stated that “at the time of this Press Release, the NDDC is yet to respond to the Special Periodic Checks.”

    The statement noted that “it took NDDC, 16 months to grant the Office permission to commence the periodic checks beginning from 9thDecember, 2011 to 6th May, 2013. Similarly, it took another 16 months and several reminders to the NDDC with effect from the 24th of April, 2014 to 12th August, 2015 before the final report was submitted to the National Assembly.”

    The Auditor General decried media reports alleged to be engineered by the NDDC “denying and casting aspersions on the Special Periodic Checks recently submitted to the National Assembly.”

    The Office of the Auditor General said it stands by its report and its contents despite “the negative sentiments occasioned by the NDDC’s condemnation of the Special Periodic Checks in various media calculated to demean the efficacy of the Constitutional mandate carried out by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.”

    The statement maintained that “the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation has a constitutional mandate to submit its Reports to the National Assembly and in doing so, due process are usually followed.”

    The NDDC was reminded that if it “is not satisfied with the contents of the Special Report it has the opportunity to defend itself before the Public Accounts Committees (PACs) of the National Assembly.”