NDDC to sanction defaulting oil companies

Posted by admin | 9 years ago | 2,547 times



Poised to serve the interests of the people more efficiently, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Advisory Council has resolved to deal decisively with the poor funding which is challenging the Commission.

Rising from a meeting about 3am on Sunday, September 28, in Asaba, Delta State capital, the Council said the best way to do it would be to cease being lenient with defaulting oil majors which fails to meet up with its obligations to the Commission. The Committee said its decision was in line with its deliberations on how to leave legacy programmes for persons with the original plan.

Speaking on behalf of Governors of Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Imo, Delta, Bayelsa, Edo, Rivers, Cross-River which are also NDDC states, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo state briefed journalists after a closed door meeting, saying that defaulting by companies have been having adverse effects on the programmes of the NDDC by stalling the progress with inadequate funding. He boasted that the Council was now ready to bring down the sledge hammer on any defaulter.

According to him, the Advisory Council has also looked at ways to leverage the outstanding funds from some of the oil majors who have defaulted for years on their funding obligations to the commission. This, he further explained, was after they got a briefing from the Chairman of the Commission on the funding challenges facing the commission. "We are ready to see how we can assist in resolving some of these challenges and how we can recover some of the outstanding funds from the oil majors.” he said.

The Council also reviewed the projects which the NDDC has worked on so far, and explained that emphasis was laid on projects which would create more jobs for member states as well as sustain the economy of the region, even without oil.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Board, Dan Bassey expressed optimism for a new NDDC as he believes the challenges of the Commission were almost being surmounted with the meeting's thorough deliberations.

Governors who attended the Council's meeting at the new Government House Asaba, include Theodore Orji of Abia; Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa; Liyel Imoke of Cross Rivers; the host Emmanuel Uduaghan who is also the Chairman of the Advisory Council; and Secretary to Imo State Government who represented Governor Rochas Okorocha.


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