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The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has appealed to the Federal Government to remove the interventionist agency from the Treasury Single Account, TSA.
The Rivers State Representative on the NDDC Management Board, Chief Tony Okocha made the call while briefing newsmen after he met with contractors handling projects in the state on Tuesday at the state office in Port Harcourt.
Okocha’s call stems from his revelation that he inherited over 952 abandoned projects of the NDDC in Rivers State.
The state NDDC rep stated that the commission will be able to disburse funds for projects in bulk to contractors, which he said is the reason for the number of abandoned projects in the state.
“One of the reasons we convened this meeting was to get feedback from our contractors, viz a viz how they are faring, the extent of work, and also to share with them our vision.
“We have been able to pass on our vision and mission to the contractors.
“We have also elicited responses from them. Those responses we have elicited, we will work on them because we are all Nigerians and we know the situation right now in the country.
“What I’ve only advised or urged them is that they should all go back to the site.
“I inherited from the record, 952 abandoned projects of NDDC in Rivers State. More than the fact that I’ve said I would visit with the projects, I enjoined the contractors to go back to the site.
“Their concern is non-payment for jobs that are completed. Their concern again is because of the fact that there is political instability; a new government comes and the other ones are jettisoned.
“We have promised that we will address those issues. That also leads us to our request to the Federal Government, through the President, that NDDC is an interventionist agency.
“And, NDDC covers nine states of the Niger Delta. And in these nine states of the Niger Delta is where you have heavy rainfall. And so, we have not more than five months of dry season to be able to work.
“If we are not able to explore the five months that we have the dry season to work, then we will be in trouble.
“But how can we achieve that when our money comes in trickles?
“If NDDC, like some agencies and some arms of government, is taken away from TSA (Treasury Single Account), then we will be able to make negotiations, get money in bulk, and see how we rework the procurement law to make sure that monies are handy for contractors to go to the field and deliver.
“Otherwise, we will be having a problem of variation, uncompleted projects and all that”, he added.
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