Rivers State has the second-highest number of abandoned projects in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Tony Okocha, the state’s representative in the commission, who disclosed this in Port Harcourt, on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, gave the number as 953.
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This is as the state rep has declared a new direction, saying the NDDC would want to focus more on human capital development with an attendant welfare system though infrastructure would still get attention.
Okocha spoke at the Rivers State Traditional Council chambers in Port Harcourt, where the NDDC state office held interaction to get the feeling of the owners of the land.
Okocha said he tried to carry out a study to find out why NDDC had many abandoned projects. He mentioned frequent changes in management and board as the number one reason. In addition, every board awarded fresh projects that he said were often not executed. In some instances, he stated, the contractors were fully paid while in some instances, the contractors did work but were not paid.
Tabling his plans, he said both physical infrastructure and human capital were important but noted that a ‘hungry man may not value good road. “If we all die, who would use the roads?”
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Noting that the mission of the NDDC was to fight poverty in the oil region and carry out development, he said the NDDC would carry out free medical schemes around the state, do education programmes, revive inter-school sports, and would fiercely protect Rivers’ interests.
Warning big shots not to call him to do roads to their homes, Okocha said he would insist on a fair share of NDDC projects for Rivers State, saying a state that fetches 33 percent of oil will not get an equal share with a state that fetches less than one percent.
Earlier, Chidi Awuse, the chairman of the traditional council, said the new NDDC has started well by seeking to interact with the monarchs whereas it was the monarchs that were writing and pleading to meet with the leadership of the Commission in the past without success.
Urging all monarchs to pray for the new NDDC, the chairman asked the rulers to go home and see how to help the NDDC succeed.
Some of the monarchs who spoke blamed abandoned projects on the award of contracts to contractors without letting the monarch of the area know about it.
