By Christiana Ekpa
Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Enyia Akwagaga has disclosed that since inception of the commission, 9,820 contracts were awarded while only 4,288 have been completed.
This is even as she attributed part of the problem creating many uncompleted projects by the commission to threats from erring contractors.
Giving her testimony before the House ad hoc committee on abandoned projects, the MD disclosed that there is always “subtle and open threats to NDDC top officials in recent past, whenever intention to terminate non-performing contractors’ jobs was declared.
“Subtle and open threats to NDDC top officials in recent past, whenever intention to bring erring contractors to book was declared”, she disclosed.
According to the NDDC boss, a total of 9,820 contracts have been awarded from inception to date; out of which 4,288 were completed, 1,796 not yet started while 2, 645 were ongoing. She added that 342 projects have been stalled, 30 taken over, 449 cancelled and terminated even as 660 were newly awarded.
On the funding profile, she said N2.832 trillion was budgeted from 2008 and 2018, N1.848 trillion, is actual receipts, N983bn outstanding funding variance, N1.374 trillion outstanding gap based on amounts payable according to NDDC act, while N60.213 billion is the unremitted funds due to NDDC through the Ecological Fund.
She lamented the underfunding of NDDC over the years and pleaded with the House to help them in the recovery of all payments due from the FG and oil and gas companies operating in the Niger Delta in accordance with the NDDC Act.
Earlier, chairman of the committee Hon. Ossai Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta) queried the acting managing director and other officials of the agency for their involvement in an N61.4 billion contract awarded by the commission without completion.
The lawmaker said that a report from the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation to the committee reveal that N70.4 billion was paid to 1723 contractors by the NDDC and they abandoned the projects.
He disclosed that the committee had petitions suggesting that the commission collects a certain percentage of contract sum from contractors even before they mobilise to the site. He said that available documents submitted to the committee had shown that some people still sign contracts after leaving office
Ossai consequently summoned all the commission’s past managing directors notably Nsima Ekere and Timi Alaibe and former executive directors of finance of the NDDC.
Also testifying at the investigation, chairman of the Niger Delta Construction Consortium, Chief Jasper Jumbo threatened that he will burn down every single facility installed by the NDDC until a debt of N2.6 million owed him is paid.
The septuagenarian, a contractor, and stakeholder expressed disappointment at the injustices and mismanagement of resources on the part of NDDC management saying that they have been unfair to the region in term of infrastructure.
He told the committee that he has been a contractor of NDDC right from the days of OMPADEC and added that the agency has owed him N2. 6 million contract debt on a job that it had issued him a certificate of completion for over six years.
He also said that he has evidence to nail a former executive director of finance of the commission, who demands 10% of any contract sum from any contractor that bided for a job in the commission. The investigation continues on Friday.
