The Senate Committee on the Niger Delta has promised to treat the 2016
budget of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, with speed and
urgency.
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, said in an
interview with newsmen on Saturday that the financial appropriations for
the commission would be ready within one month after the passage of the
Federal Government’s budget.
Senator Nwaoboshi was speaking at the end of a two-day inspection tour of
NDDC projects in Akwa Ibom State by the Senate committee and directors of
the interventionist agency. He said: “I can assure you that as soon as we
get the budget, we will work on it expeditiously. We are already collating
facts. In fact, with what we have seen on the ground, we are set to go. As
soon as the Federal Government’s budget is passed, within one month, you
can be sure that we will get the NDDC budget out.”
The committee chairman explained that one of the reasons for the late
approval of NDDC budgets in the past was because it had to wait for the
passage of the Federal Government’s budget to know what had been allocated
to it.
Senator Nwaoboshi said: “We will not allow what happened in the general
budget to happen to the NDDC budget. This time, we are going to go through
the budget line by line to determine the relevance of the projects to the
people of the Niger Delta. We will see whether that is what they deserve
and what they demand before allocating funds for the projects. It is not
going to be a budget for projects to be scattered everywhere and nothing
is achieved at the end of the day.”
“People should understand that we are in the 8th Senate. We are not just
going to allocate money for no particular purpose. We are going to look at
the projects for which the money is being allocated. This time, if we
identify a project and we think that it is relevant to the people, we will
make budgetary provision for it.”
The committee chairman said further: “One of the things we have gained
from our visits to the project sites is that it has exposed us to certain
facts that were unknown to us previously. We are going to look at these
projects and make sure that they are funded, especially those that are of
great importance to the people of the Niger Delta. It is not going to be
business as usual.”
“The NDDC has asked state governments to make inputs into its 2016 budget.
It is not going to be just any kind of contribution. We won’t allow
special interests from government officials to use that as an opportunity
to feather their own nests. We are going to make sure that the proposed
projects are relevant to the people of the Niger Delta.”
The committee had earlier inspected the 30-kilometre Nsasak Junction-Okon
Road, in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Senator
Nwaoboshi commended the contractor for the quality of work on the road. “I
am very impressed that a Nigerian contractor did this good job. When you
see this type of performance, you will be encouraged. We will recommend
this company for more quality jobs. We assure the contractor that money
will be appropriated for the project in the 2016 budget.”
The Managing Director of Seyang Construction, the company handling the
project, Engr. Sam Inyang, said that the road would be the shortest route
from Akwa Ibom to Rivers state through Aba. He also described the road as
having huge potentials for economic benefits to the people of several
communities and local governments in the area.