Rivers State representative on the board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Tony Okocha, has described incessant dissolution of NDDC board by the Federal Government as one of the factors affecting the development of Niger Delta.
Other factors, Okocha noted, included non-payment of contract sum to contractors and lack of refund of money spent by contractors, who went to site without mobilisation by the board.
He spoke yesterday when he led key officers of NDDC state office and some commission workers to visit members of the state Council of Traditional Rulers.
The visit also served as an interactive forum between the visitors and NDDC.
Addressing the council, he said the state ranks number two on the list of states that have the highest number of abandoned projects in the region, with 953 uncompleted.
Okocha said NDDC projects littered the state.
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“One of the things that have bedevilled this developmental stride of government is the inconsistencies of government. Three months down the line, a board is set up, after another three months the same board is dissolved, and within the period they had existed, they would have awarded contracts to people, sometimes the work is done without mobilisation, people use their money to go to the field and don’t get their money paid. “Another aspect of this is that the new board that was constituted will now award their own contracts to also make their own name and probably get their own cuts. This has been our problem,” he added.
The Executive Director, Finance and Administration (EDFA), NDDC, Boma Iyaye, spoke on the need for traditional rulers to protect government pipelines in their domains from attacks by crude oil thieves.
He said improved production of crude oil by the Federal Government would guarantee increased resources to carry out more developmental projects across the region.
He said NDDC annual budget has hit over N300 billion under the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration, as against the usual N100 and something billion it had been in past administrations.
The Chairman of the council, Sergeant Awuse, said the visit was the first of its kind since the inception of NDDC and expressed gratitude to Okocha for the show of respect and recognition to members of the council.
He prayed God to help him succeed in office.