The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is set to revoke many contracts for projects in different parts of the oil-rich region to enable it to focus on strategic ones that would open up the areas.
The commissioner representing Delta State on the NDDC board, Dr. Ogaga Ifowodo, who disclosed this during the inspection of the Koko-Oghoye-Escravos-Epe (Lagos) road project and other projects in Isoko and Abraka, said the NDDC had been saddled with too many projects. According to him, the commission, at the last count, had about 9,000 projects in the nine states of the Niger Delta.
To Ifowodo, the NDDC is carrying too heavy a load that it does not have enough resources to give due attention to those high-end projects that would really impact the lives of the people of the region, like the ongoing Koko-Oghoye-Escravos-Epe (Lagos) road project.
“As at the time we came into office, we took count of about 9,000 projects. That means in each of the nine NDDC states, there are about 1,000 projects. That is unimaginable. What we’re doing is to take audit and decide which projects would be taken off our books because we’re carrying too heavy a load to pay attention to the projects like the Delta-Epe (Lagos) road that really matters. Projects like this one we want to give major attention to, but when you have dockets full of a whole 9,000 projects – a lot of those are one kilometer and two kilometers projects – they end up sucking up all the resources and most of the time they are abandoned.
“We recently cancelled projects worth about N200 billion – those are projects that are at zero percent completion rate. The next phase that will go will be zero to five percent and we’ll keep going until we have totally rid our books of these projects that are of no value anymore but are dragging us down,” he said.
Ifowodo described the Delta-Lagos road project embarked upon by the commission as not only ambitious but a high impact one that could open up the Niger Delta through laid down solid infrastructure. He expressed satisfaction with the enthusiasm shown so far by the contractors during his tour of the project sites, especially the quality of jobs done.
He, however, expressed disappointment with the abandonment of the 260-room hostel at the Delta State University (Delsu), Abraka by the contractor, Breden Nigeria Ltd as well as the Koko Shoreline protection pilling being done by Smiec Nig Ltd and ordered both contractors to report at the NDDC office in Warri to explain their problems with the projects.
According to Ifowodo, the NDDC has an exposure of about N1.5 trillion and the Federal Government isowing the commission about N1.8 trillion. He said some funds were received recently and that the NDDC had started paying contractors, which explained why none of the contractors complained about money when he toured the sites. He said with these payments the commission’s exposure had been cut down.
He said the NDDC board had agreed that 70 percent of funds would be dedicated to the completion of ongoing projects while 30 per cent would be for new projects.
The NDDC official said the commission had also weighed the implications of terminating some projects, especially where they owe contractors, and has decided to ensure they are completed because if they were revoked, the contractors could go to court since they are being owed and the NDDC would be at the receiving end.
But some stakeholders in the region have criticised the planned revocation of the so-called low value projects by the NDDC.
The Coordinating Secretary of the Pan- Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Dr. Alfred Mulade, urged the commission to be more creative about sourcing funds to complete all its projects ongoing in the region the way funds are being sourced locally and internationally to rebuild the North East. He argued that there is nothing like low(Guardian)
