The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has given contractors
handling its projects across the Niger Delta 30 days to return to site
in order to complete the projects or face prosecution.
Rising
from an Inter-Ministerial meeting chaired by Vice President, Professor
Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, in Abuja over the weekend, the Managing Director of
NDDC, Mr. Nsima Ekere, said “a list of such contractors is being
compiled in all the nine NDDC States and defaulters would be
prosecuted.”
Mr. Ekere said it had become imperative to fast
track the on-going audit of projects awarded in the region, in line with
Government directives and one of the planks of the new Governing
Board’s 4-R Initiative, “which is to restructure the balance sheet of
the Commission and determine poor performing projects.”
He
declared: “It is important for our contractors to realise it can’t be
business as usual. President Muhammadu Buhari is determined to change
how government business is conducted and everyone must wake up to that
reality. But beyond that is the fact that we owe the Niger Delta region
and our people the duty to implement and complete these projects, in
order to facilitate sustainable regional development.
"This is a
necessary process to ensure that things are done properly, how they
ought to be done and when they ought to be done,” he added.
The
meeting, which was also attended by Ministers of the Federal Ministry of
Petroleum Resources, Environment, Niger Delta and Information and
Culture, as well as Ministers of State for Petroleum and Environment and
the Presidential Amnesty Office, also reviewed the 20-Point Agenda of
the Petroleum Ministry with regards to the Niger Delta, as well as the
Amnesty Programme and the 16 point demand of the Pan Niger Delta Forum.
“It was important to consolidate the agenda with that of the Ministry
of Petroleum Resources, as well as the blueprint of the State
governments, the Amnesty Office and the NDDC master plan,” the NDDC
Managing Director said, “in order to roll them into one workable plan.”
Mr. Ekere added: “We are all going to initiate quick-win projects that
would give a sense of involvement to government’s approach to handling
issues that would impact the people.
We will organise frequent town hall
meetings with all stakeholders and collaborate in building sustainable
economic models for the communities of the Niger Delta.”
Among
other decisions, he said, was the need for the Commission to work with
the Ministry of Environment and NOSREA to facilitate the Niger Delta
clean-up of affected areas of oil spill, working on a time frame, as
well as encourage IOCs to provide more power to their host communities,
beyond working with PHCN and DISCOs.
“Satellite mapping,” Mr.
Ekere declared, “will be used to identify polluted areas in the Niger
Delta and a comprehensive plan of action adopted to ensure regional
clean up.
This is important, because we must ensure that we safeguard
our environment and give our people the opportunity and enabling
environment to pursue our predominant traditional livelihoods.
“Agriculture and aquaculture are key to facilitating sustainable
development in the region, particularly as we seek alternate productive
socio-economic activities beyond oil and gas. This is a future we must
all work to safeguard.”
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