Okowa Calls For Proper Funding Of NDDC

Asaba – Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, Delta State Governor, has described funding of budget and the use of incompetent contractors in the execution of projects as key factors militating against speedy development of the Niger Delta region and called for proper funding of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The governor made the observation Thursday in Asaba when he played host to the Senate Committee on the Niger Delta led by Senator Peter Nwaoboshi.

Governor Okowa also decried the poor state of infrastructure in the Niger Delta and the attendant unrest in the region.

“The terrain of the Niger Delta is very bad and it is very expensive to execute projects, especially, roads in the region,” he said.

He also suggested that to tackle the problems bedevilling the region, budget should be prepared in line with the quantum of oil produced by communities, decrying situation where some communities which contribute a lot to the national purse had little or nothing to show for such.

“This oversight function of the Senate Committee will stimulate activities that will encourage a win-win situation for everybody,” the Governor said while commending the Senate Committee for carrying out its oversight functions of visiting projects sites of the NDDC.

He described the amnesty programme for ex-militants as a laudable programme but observed that there was still a lot to be done for it to make the desired impact on the people.

The governor disclosed that it was wrong for beneficiaries of the amnesty programmes to be left idle without being properly engaged after their training.

Earlier, Senator Nwaoboshi had told the governor that the committee was in Delta State to carry out its oversight function on the NDDC and the amnesty committee, stating that such visit would enable the committee to “give a holistic report to the Senate.”

Senator Nwaoboshi disclosed that since the inception of the NDDC, a total of 1,674 projects had been awarded in Delta State which represents 20 per cent of the total number of projects awarded by the interventionist agency.

He decried the fact that more than 50 per cent of the projects had been abandoned.

On the amnesty programme, Senator Nwaoboshi said, “We are going to have a public hearing on the amnesty programme and we want the state government to send position papers on the way forward and attend the event.”

Independent newspaper.