Niger Delta Development Commission
Rivers governor seeks end to external influence on NDDC
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has regretted the continuous interference of external forces who are not from the oil-rich region on the activities of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, noting that the act frustrates programmes of the commission. Wike, however, condemned the posture of some ethnic groups in the region that behave as if the commission belongs to them, clarifying that NDDC was set up to cater for needs of the states of the region. The governor disclosed this in a statement signed by his Special Assistant, Media, Kelvin Ebiri, after the visit of the Interim Management Committee of NDDC to Government House, Port Harcourt, yesterday. The governor said people are abusing the entire region because the commission has wasted trillions of Dollars without lifting the mass...
Akwa Ibom village head dethroned over ‘fraud’
The village head of Ikot Obio Inyang in Etinan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom state, Chief Emem Okon Akpan, has been dethroned over alleged fraud and other criminal activities in the community. Akpan was accused by his community of sabotaging the water scheme provided by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in their area. This is contained in a 14-point resolution signed by Enefiok Umoh the President of Ikot Obio Inyang Development Association, IKODA, 89 other members of the community and made available to newsmen in Uyo. They pointed out that a police report of February 17, 2020, indicted the village head, and therefore passed a vote of no confidence on his leadership. It stated; “This led to a petition to the state police commissioner who ordered an investigation into the ma...
National Assembly raises 2021 budget by N580 billion, approves N13.588 trillion
The two chambers of the National Assembly yesterday passed the 2021 Appropriation Bill, increasing the budget size from N13.08 trillion presented to them by President Muhamnadu Buhari 11 weeks ago to N13.588 trillion. The passage of the 2021 budget followed consideration and adoption of harmonised reports separately submitted to them by their Committees on Appropriation. The two chambers increased the 2021 budget by about N580 billion and pegged daily crude oil production at 1.86 million barrels per day, while oil benchmark price was fixed at $40 per barrel. They approved N379 to dollar as the official exchange rate while GDP growth rate was pegged at 3 per cent. Highlights of the report approved by the Senate showed aggregate expenditure to be N13,588,027,886,175, statutory transfer of N4...
Ijaw youths block East-West road over NDDC
Pool Photo The ripples over the appointment of a sole administrator for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) reached a boiling point on Monday as hundreds of Ijaw youths blocked the popular East-West road, causing many travellers to be stranded. The youths under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) said the protest was for the immediate removal of the Sole Administrator, Mr Effiong Okon Awa, and the inauguration of the substantive board. The protest held travellers stranded for hours and attempts by some armed soldiers backed by an Armoured Personnel Carrier and led by a Major to persuade the protesters to leave the East-West road proved abortive. A plea by a former Secretary to Bayelsa State Government and ex-Nigerian Ambassador to the Scandinavian countries, Dr Godknows Iga...
Governor Wike: Nigeria’ll be on fire if President Buhari fails to restructure
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has stated that the nation would be on fire if President Muhammadu Buhari fails to use the available opportunity to restructure the nation, urging the president to heed the clamour for fiscal federalism and restructuring to douse brewing tension in the country. The governor also advised the president to genuinely address the concerns and grievances expressed by stakeholders in the South-South and those of other geopolitical zones during the meeting with federal government delegation led by Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari. Wike, who spoke Thursday on a television interview tasked the President to use the opportunity to address pressing issues affecting the stability of the country. Wike said: “President Buhari, has an opportunit...
Group rejects South-South governors desire to control NDDC
A Niger Delta group, Vanguard for Transparent Leadership and Democracy (VATLAD), has condemned the desire of South-South governors to control the affairs of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The group described as untrue governors’ claim that their demand for control is borne out of concerned about the rot in the NDDC. In a statement by Comrade Igbini Odafe Emmanuel, national president, the group reminded South South governors that their continued failure to utlilise oil derivation funds and other funds acruing to their states sparked the agitation for the establishment of NDDC, which “will operate independently and without direct or indirect interference or control by our state governors or their agents.” It described as insulting threat by South South governors over NDDC, queryi...
Senator Ndoma-Egba: Attack on my house premeditated
Former Senate Leader and ex-Chairman, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, has said that the recent onslaught on his abode in Calabar, Cross River State, was well planned by the perpetrators and those that may have prompted them. Ndoma-Egba, who spoke through a statement, lamented that despite assurances given by the security agencies that his house would be secured, there was no evidence of any security officer in the vicinity when the hoodlums carried out their nefarious operation for over four hours. “At about 2.am (local time, as I was abroad) on Saturday 24th October, 2020, I received a text informing me that there were plans by arranged hoodlums to attack my residence in Calabar, that of Senator Gershom Bassey and a hotel owned by Senator Joh...
Senator Akpabio denies accusing National Assembly members of NDDC contracts fraud
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, Tuesday, denied that he accused members of the National Assembly of fraud concerning contracts from the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. The minister had, during an investigative hearing at the House of Representatives, claimed that 60 percent of NDDC contracts went to the federal lawmakers. However, as the House threatened to initiate a criminal complaint of perjury and explore the possibility of a civil defamation suit against him, Akpabio denied he ever referred to members of the 9th House of Representatives as beneficiaries of contracts in NDDC. He noted that NDDC was yet to fully implement any budget since the commencement of the 9th National Assembly. Also, Akpabio while responding to questions after a visit to t...
CSO urges President Buhari to freeze NDDC account
The Act for Positive Transformation Initiative, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), has requested President Muhammadu Buhari to freeze the account of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and suspend all further spending in the commission. Mr Johnson Kolawale, the Head, Directorate of Research, Strategy, and Programme, made the call at a news conference on Monday in Abuja. He alleged that plans were ongoing to make fraudulent expenditures by top officials in the commission. Kolawale revealed that the commission had continued to spend funds against due process and against the directive of the President. According to him, the commission has squandered an additional nine billion Naira in the last one month. “We call on President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Assembly, and genuine sec...
Cairo Ojougboh: NDDC did not pay coronavirus palliatives to senators
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has faulted a report that it paid various sums of money as COVID-19 palliatives to members of the Senate. NDDC’s acting Executive Director (Projects), Dr Cairo Ojougboh, condemned the claim in a statement on Tuesday. Ojougboh who clarified the controversy sparked by the claim also denied issuing any statement as purported in the report. He stressed that there was no way the agency could have made such payments as there was no provision for such in the NDDC’s budget. While stating that he would have resisted such a payment if it was brought up, the executive director said the Interim Management Committee (IMC) has championed a campaign to cleanse the NDDC of obvious corruption and frivolous payments. According to him, the IMC has a mandate to re...
Senator Akpabio: FEC approves 8 field forensic auditors for NDDC
Determined to clean up the rot in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NCDC), the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs Wednesday got the approval for the appointment of eight Forensic Auditors who will work in the field in the Niger Delta region. This much was disclosed Wednesday in Abuja by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, while briefing State House Correspondents after the 13th virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meetings presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at Council Chambers, State House, Abuja. According to the Minister, “Ministry of Niger Delta presented a memo to the Federal Executive Council and at the end of the deliberations, the memo was approved. The memo is basically the appointment of Field Forensic Auditors to undertake the forensic au...
Senator Akpabio: NDDC received N15 trillion in 19 years
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has faulted the National Assembly inquest into the financial activties of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) between February and July 2020 rather than embark on a comprehensive probe of the interventionist agency’s 19 years of existence. The NDDC, he stated, received over N15 trillion in the last 19 years, with nothing on the ground to justify the huge funds, wondering why the lawmakers decided to probe five months’ activities in the commission. Speaking when members of the Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) visited him in Abuja, Thursday, he noted that discretionary probe would not address the problem of the commission, which he described as cesspit of corruption. He, however, assured Niger Delta ...
