Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has rolled out drums celebrating her 25 years of touching the lives of the people of the region, especially the rural communities.
Among the series of activities that marked the anniversary celebration was a world press briefing held in Asaba, Delta State, a moment that offered journalists the opportunity to hear from the commission how far she has touched the lives of the people, the challenges and her future plans.
Samuel Ogbuku, managing director and chief executive officer (MD/CEO) of the NDDC, had in his presentation listed the triumphs and pains of the commission, paying more attention to the mandate given to Chiedu Ebie-led Governing Board by President Bola Tinubu, to complete the old abandoned legacy projects in the region.
Ogbuku had listed achievements in the area of roads and bridges, rural electrification, healthcare, education and agriculture among others.
In the questions that followed the presentation, more of the pressmen demanded to know how many abandoned projects completed by the commission.
Read also: Why NDDC is unable to cancel some abandoned projects – MD
One said that the abandoned projects were up to 2,000. Another said they were up to 900 but Ogbuku said he did not know where they got their data and could not immediately disclose the actual number of the abandoned projects and how many that have been cancelled or completed since about two years of the administration.
According to him, the projects are many and the commission is prioritising on the old abandoned critical legacy projects – the huge ones, to be completed within the available limited resources of the commission.
His words:
“When you talk about cancellation of projects, you don’t just come and cancel projects. There is unilateral agreement which will bring about litigations.
“There are so many issues of variations all over the place and some of these contracts that have been abandoned, they have payment certificates with the obligations that we need to also pay them. So, if you have not paid the contractor, how do you tell the contractor to leave?
“On the other hand, the Procurement Act says once the variation for a project is more than 15%, it is due for cancellation but as far as the variations are far more than the 15%.
“You don’t just have to wake up and say you are completing all the abandoned projects. How many years do you have left in office?
“You must also know that in Niger Delta, we have only four months of dry season which is November, December, January and February. March rain starts. So, you must also ensure you prioritise.
“For us, we are also targeting those legacy projects. Why don’t we put our funds together to complete those legacy projects? The ones we have to partner to complete, we do partnership. I just gave example that Okirika-Borokiri Road and Bridges.in Rivers State was awarded in 2012 and was abandoned but today, we have undertaken that project in partnership with the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) to start and finish the project. The contractor has been mobilised to site.
“There are many projects like in Rivers State, where we are going to build the 27.1-kilometre Bonny ring road, which was awarded by NDDC and abandoned. That project is now in partnership between NDDC and NLNG. The contractor has been mobilised. The people of Bonny are happy today. So that is a project that is also going to help the NLNG. In addition to that, we are all in that partnership.
“The Okitipupa Electricification Project in Ondo South. That project, too, was abandoned. The people almost lost hope, but today, they are happy with the NDDC and the federal government. So, we have to look at such critical projects – the heavy ones, not 1km or 2km roads.
Read also: Ondo governor says change in NDDC ways is real milestone of Commission at 25
“The funds that are limited, which we have, we have to look at how to put those funds into critical projects for the benefit of the people of the Niger Delta, because the mandate we were given is to complete old legacy projects.
“Some of these legacy projects that were abandoned, billions of naira have been paid. We need to go back to those projects to add value to whatever has been expended before, so that we don’t waste the money of the people of the Niger Delta.
“So, to answer that question, we cannot just wake up to say we are chasing out the contractors from the sites. Some of them, there are complications. And those complications, some of them are things we don’t want to go into.
“I can’t stand before you now and take the time we have to talk about the number of abandoned projects. I don’t know where you got the data from. But there are critical projects that we want to complete, and most of them, we are going into partnership, but be assured that we are going to complete them.
“For others, we are going to undertake them, and those ones we are going to undertake, we are going to make sure we complete them too. To some of them, we are still negotiating with the contractors. We are begging them to also leave the projects so that we could re-award them, but some of them just want to, and you cannot force them to leave, and that would be subject to litigation, and that’s what we don’t want. So, we are also taking time, massaging some of their egos.
The MD said major abandoned projects were also completed in Edo, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Imo and Rivers States.He said the present management team of the NDDC had initiated and completed several projects, including state offices of the commission; 45,000 tablets preloaded with school curriculum to pupils and students.
Going forward, we have also committed most of them into partnership, like we are discussing with Chevron and Delta State, how to construct the marginal Escravos Road, which is about 67 kilometres long and several bridges. And we felt, let us do it in partnership with NLNG. We have met with the Delta State Government and have shown commitment. Chevron. I think they are willing, but they are also trying to get their partners, which is NNPC, on board”
Ogbuku stated that the commission, apart from continuing the foreign scholarship scheme for two hundred beneficiaries with each receiving $40,000, the board of directors of NDDC had approved the take-off of the local postgraduate scholarship.
In health, he said thousands of women, men, youths and children had benefited from the commission’s free medical programme, saying that the health scheme would now be done twice yearly in all the nine states of the region.
He said a lot had also been achieved in agriculture in collaboration with the commission’s partners, and gave an assurance that priority would be accorded to the agricultural sector to ensure food sufficiency.
Read also: Niger Delta arts, dances and culture on parade as NDDC clocks 25
Conclusion:
Ogbuku has blamed some major setbacks of the commission on the inconsistency in the appointment of the leadership of the commission by the previous government.
While commending President Tinubu for his numerous supports, ensuring the funding of the commission, Ogbuku is optimistic of more life-changing projects in the region under the present administration as he calls for his second term in office as president of Nigeria.
Chiedu Ebie, the chairman of the NDDC Governing Council, had said, “In this Stakeholder Engagement with the media, we have a story to tell and we will continue to try in our own little way, making a difference in the lives of the people of the Niger Delta.
The people now look up to the next level after the celebration of 25 years of NDDC, where better and greater stories would emerge about the region and the projects’ execution. That the people will indeed be proud of their region
