The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has disclosed that it is indebted to contractors to the tune of over N1 trillion.

The Commission’s Managing Director, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, gave the figure in Abuja on Thursday during a budget defence meeting with the Senate Committee on NDDC.

The Senate committee is chaired by Sen. Asuquo Ekpenyong.

He said the debts had piled up over the years, affecting the image of the commission and causing distortions in its operations.

Ogbuku stated that frequent replacement of the management of the commission had also caused instability, resulting in nine (9) MDs being appointed in the past eight (8) years.

He disclosed that cases of abandoned projects in the Niger Delta region were a testimony of the instability as each MD would start their own projects only to be abandoned as soon as they were removed.

Ogbuku, who advocated sufficient time for an MD to stay in office to execute the mandate of the commission, noted that the scenario of MDs being chased around by contractors even after their tenure had ended was unfortunate.

The MD, who pleaded with the Federal Government to bail out the NDDC from its debts, told senators that a proposal the new management was putting forward was to make a provision of N100 billion in its budget yearly to gradually “settle old debts.”

Ogbuku informed the committee that the huge debts he met on ground was the reason his management opted for Public Private Partnership (PPP) to execute projects.

He also said political interference in the affairs of the commission had led to a situation where hands recruited by the agency lacked the requisite training to effectively function within the organisation.

He added, “NDDC is highly-politicised. The moment someone does not like your face, they go to the press and begin to malign you.

“There was a recent case where they said the MD bribed senators with billions of naira to retain seat.

“I am sure, nobody here got N1bn from me. It was someone who asked a favour from me, which I turned down, that was behind the publication.”

Ekpenyong, while expressing concerns for the NDDC, said the commission got into the debt burden due to a number of factors, including default in making remittances by the IOCs, the FG and several other bodies.

“Whoever owes you, pays whatever they owe you.

“In your recovery process, the NDDC will become a credible organisation, where all of these issues will no longer exist“, he added.

He noted that contractors would avoid the NDDC because of its high debt profile, adding that is a reason many projects were also poorly executed.

Ekpenyong specifically urged the FG and the IOCs to comply with the law on remittances to the commission.

“We are determined and ready to carry out our oversight function to address the negative stories of the NDDC over time”, he said. (Nigerian Tribune)

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