The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, has charged the Niger
\nDelta Development Commission, NDDC, to accord the state a better treatment
\nin the allocation of development projects.<\/p>\n
The governor, was speaking on Friday at the Government House Uyo when the
\nSenate Committee on the Niger Delta and the NDDC directors led by the
\nActing Managing Director, Mrs Ibim Semenetari, paid him a courtesy visit.
\nHe was represented by the Deputy Governor, Mr. Moses Ekpo, who stressed
\nthat \u201cAkwa Ibom State deserves a bigger allocation of projects from the
\nNDDC.\u201d<\/p>\n
He justified the demand for a more generous allocation by stating that
\nAkwa Ibom State was contributing over 40 per cent to the wealth of the
\ncountry through oil and was also the biggest contributor to the funds of
\nthe NDDC.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think that the NDDC should constantly cross-check with states in the
\nregion on projects to avoid unnecessary duplications. The commission
\nshould also monitor and supervise projects properly to ensure that
\nacceptable standards are met. I doubt that that is being done currently.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Deputy Governor urged the NDDC to complete all on-going and abandoned
\nprojects in the state and thereafter begin new ones that would be relevant
\nto the needs of the state. \u201cThere are so many projects scattered all over
\nthe state. Some are described as on-going, yet the contractors have since
\nleft the sites. NDDC should look at such cases,\u201d he advised.<\/p>\n
On the Amnesty Programme, Chief Ekpo regretted that former militants from
\nAkwa Ibom State were not integrated in the rehabilitation scheme and \u201cwe
\ndon\u2019t know why this is so.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his remarks, the chairman of the Senate Committee, Senator Peter
\nNwaoboshi, said that they were on a fact-finding mission. \u201cWe are here on
\nreferral from the Senate on the performance of NDDC. The Senate directed
\nwe should find out the impact of the NDDC on the lives of the people of
\nthe Niger Delta.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senator Nwaoboshi said the committee oversights NDDC, the Ministry of
\nNiger Delta and the Amnesty Programme of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,
\nadding that its mission was not to witch-hunt.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are here to find out what the NDDC has done with the funds
\nappropriated for it. Have they been able to positively affect the lives of
\nthe people? Has the money been judiciously used for the benefit of the
\npeople? Secondly, we are about working out the details of the 2016 budget.
\nSo, we need to find out the special interest of the states in terms of
\nprojects.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that Akwa Ibom State was a major stakeholder in the Niger Delta
\nregion and as such it was important for the committee to ensure that it
\nwas getting commensurate benefit from the NDDC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, has charged the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, to accord the state a better treatment in the allocation of development projects.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n