The Niger Delta Development
Commission, NDDC, has said it would soon release another list of defaulting
high profile contractors.
It said the list in circulation
was just that of 2018, saying that the list of 2019 had not been released yet
and that when it is released, people would be shocked.
Acting Executive Director,
Projects, NDDC, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh Ojougboh stated that change had come to the
NDDC and that “things will never remain the same again.”
According to him, “President Muhammadu Buhari worked for the change in NDDC “and even when we leave here, other people coming in would be more careful.
“As for the list of contractors
we published, that was for 2018 alone. By the time we publish that of 2019, a
lot of things will come out to the open.
“Some persons claim they did not
benefit from NDDC but we have documents linking them to those contracts. The
forensic audit is unearthing a lot of things, 2016, 2017 and 2019 list are
ready. But we have decided we would not be distracted again.”
He also said the Interim
Management Committee, IMC, had saved N35 billion for the Commission after its
verified payments to contractors.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after
the inauguration of the Committee for the completion and commissioning of
NDDC’s 13-floor new permanent headquarters at the Eastern By-Pass, Port
Harcourt, Ojougboh said that the Commission had also verified payments for N1.5
trillion for other projects.
Ojougbo, who is the Chairman of
the committee, affirmed that work on the office complex was at 98 per cent
completion.
He said: “As you can see, the
lifts and escalators are working, the lights and the central air conditioners
are functioning. You have seen the external works, so I want to tell you that
what is left is the ancillary building, the windows are already in place. You
have also seen the asphalts, so we are good to go.
“Nobody believed that it was
possible to achieve what we have achieved. There were lots of booby-traps which
made it impossible for this building to be ready before now. But we thank God
for the successes we have recorded.”
He lamented that the NDDC budget
for 2019 was distorted to the detriment of regional projects, citing the
example of regional hospital projects that were starved of funds.
“We made provision for hospitals
in all Niger Delta states as our regional projects but it was removed and
replaced with supply of chairs to schools in the region,” he said.
Ojougboh said that the NDDC had
written letters to the National Assembly to explain why N11.6 billion budgeted
for the completion of hospitals was removed and replaced with supply of chairs
and desks.
He asked: “Is that what we
deserve in Niger Delta?”
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