MARGARET CHIDERA
The Rivers State Governor, Barr. Nyesom Wike, has advised the new board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, to do things differently by adopting a holistic developmental strategy for the Niger Delta States.
Governor Wike gave the charge when the new chairman of NDDC board, Mrs. Lauretta Ifeanyi Onochie, led other members of the board, on a courtesy visit to him at the Government House, Port Harcourt, on Friday.
The governor urged the Mrs. Onochie-led board to embrace the conceptualisation and implementation of projects like the construction of high ways with bridges to link states.
Such projects, he opined, would serve as economic corridors to ease interstate movements and promotion of socioeconomic integration within the region.
“I read what you said that things will be done differently. I want to believe that you’re sincere. Sometimes, I feel ashamed of where I come from. We talk about underdevelopment, but look at the amount of money that has passed through NDDC, then look at the projects on ground,” he demanded.
The Rivers State governor said when projects were awarded, they should not be given to portfolio or political contractors, but to competent ones who would stick to delivering quality and enduring projects.
“There is what we call regional development projects that can link up two states, those are the kind of things NDDC should go for and give it to competent contractors. Leave these political contractors. Leave all these portfolio contractors. Leave them alone. You have come to my state and you have seen what I have done.
“If I didn’t use Julius Berger and had used these political contractors, you won’t have seen anything here. Of course, you know how expensive Julius Berger is. From 2019 till now, we have done 12 Flyovers by Julius Berger. You know how much we are talking about and you can replicate that. Even though they are expensive, but you’ll see the value,” he advised.
Governor Wike envisaged a situation where NDDC could devote huge sums annually, for example, to executing projects in each state of the region without distorting existing development master plan.
The governor said it was shameful to see the unproductive model NDDC had operated, serving as mere cash cow to politicians and spending about N10 billion in futile attempt to rig the 2019 elections in Rivers State.
“NDDC has become a cash cow for politicians. Look, part of the money NDDC lost in this state just to win election here. N10B wasted. N10B you could have used to construct a mega project in the State,” the governor reiterated.
Governor Wike noted how NDDC, often, entered and awarded projects in states including Rivers State without recourse to existing development master plan. According to him, what happened eventually was duplication of projects.
He pointed to how such practice had contributed to the wastage of the trillion of Naira that had passed through NDDC.
He also faulted the use of political contractors who, he alleged, did not have the required competence to deliver quality projects.
This, he also alleged, saw the NDDC accepting all kinds of projects nominated to it that included the construction of roads that terminated at the gates of residencies of politicians.
The governor noted how NDDC fraudulently claimed to have reconstructed the Chokocho- Igwuruta Road, and signed off the money when in actual fact, the road was reconstructed and delivered by his administration.
Governor Wike also demanded that NDDC paid up its partnership and contractual obligation of N2.5billion, which was half of the N5 billion mutually agreed between it and the Rivers State government for the reconstruction of the dualised Eastern By-pass Road leading to NDDC Headquarters.
The governor said NDDC had entered into similar agreement for the construction of the Mother and Child Hospital, collected the money paid by the Rivers State government and refused to pay up theirs.
He said his administration eventually jettisoned the agreement and footed the entire bills and completed the construction of the hospital.
In her address, the new Chairman of NDDC board, Mrs. Lauretta Ifeanyi Onochie, said they visited to formally introduce themselves to him as the governor of their landlord state.
Mrs. Onochie noted the remarkable quality of infrastructure delivered by the administration of Governor Wike that had transformed the entire landscape of Rivers State.
“It has been an exciting moment for all of us here, and particularly myself being that I lived briefly in Port Harcourt before my youth service and I wedded in Port Harcourt. Then, thereafter, I kept coming back and Port Harcourt was still Port Harcourt.
“But, I have come back now and I cannot believe my eyes. I can’t recognise anywhere else. The development that has taken place in Port Harcourt, let me speak about the one I have seen, is amazing and it’s brilliant. And I want to thank you,” she said.
She said they came to ask for guidance and seek his advise on how best the new board could break away from the provision of poor services and projects known of NDDC and replicate his quality project delivering mantra across the region.
“We are here to ask for your guidance. You have said and know, and you have spoken about the poor services that NDDC have been known for. Trillions of Naira had been pumped into this commission and we have little or nothing to show for it. We are here now, very determined to do things differently,” Mrs Onochie stated.
