Akwa Ibom littered with abandoned NDDC projects, but state wants more

Akwa Ibom State government has cried out saying its space is filled with projects abandoned by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The state government has however demanded for higher allocation of projects, saying that the state accounted for 40 percent of oil and the funds coming to the NDDC.

Akwa Ibom has produced most top leaders of the Commission in the past, especially chairmen, and recently controlled the NDDC as managing director through Dan Abia.

Now, the state governor, Emmanuel Udom, speaking through his deputy, Moses Ekpo, said: “There are so many projects scattered all over the state. Some are described as ongoing, yet the contractors have since left the sites. NDDC should look at such cases.”

He urged the NDDC to complete all ongoing and abandoned projects in the state and thereafter begin new ones that would be relevant to the needs of the state.

He however charged the Commission to accord the state a better treatment in the allocation of development projects.

The governor spoke on Friday at the Government House Uyo, when the Senate Committee on the Niger Delta and the NDDC directors led by the acting managing director, Ibim Semenetari, paid him a courtesy visit.

He pointed out errors in the past and advised thus: “We think that the NDDC should constantly cross-check with states in the region on projects to avoid unnecessary duplications. The commission should also monitor and supervise projects properly to ensure that acceptable standards are met. I doubt that that is being done currently.”

On the Amnesty Programme, Ekpo regretted that former militants from Akwa Ibom State were not integrated in the rehabilitation scheme and demanded to know why.

In his remarks, the chairman of the Senate Committee, Peter Nwaoboshi, said they were on a fact-finding mission, saying, “We are here on referral from the Senate on the performance of NDDC. The Senate directed we should find out the impact of the NDDC on the lives of the people of the Niger Delta.”

Saying the trip was not out for a witch-hunt, the chairman said: “We are here to find out what the NDDC has done with the funds appropriated for it. Have they been able to positively affect the lives of the people? Has the money been judiciously used for the benefit of the people? Secondly, we are about working out the details of the 2016 budget. So, we need to find out the special interest of the states in terms of projects.”

He said that Akwa Ibom State was a major stakeholder in the Niger Delta region and as such it was important for the committee to ensure that it was getting commensurate benefit from the NDDC.