Indebtedness: Ejele deceived us, DESOPADEC contractors allege as they begin blockade of DESOPADEC Secretariat in Warri

Contractors to Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, under the auspices of DESOPADEC Indigenous Contractors and Stakeholders Forum, DICSF, have begun protest in Warri, accusing the Chairman of DESOPADEC, Hon. Michael Diden (a.k.a Ejele) of deceit over non-payment of monies owed them for jobs executed with verified payments’ certificate and refusal to include them in DESOPADEC monthly/routine payments, “in line with the existing payments structure in the Commission”.

Video Clip of the Protesting Contractors

Fresh Angle International can report that the protesting contractors carried placards with inscriptions such as “pay us our monies oooo” and “contractors are dying, please pay us”.

The Chairman of DESOPADEC Indigenous Contractors and Stakeholders Forum, DICSF, Mr. Fidelis Ete Orugboh, who led the aggrieved contractors on the protest at the entrance of the Commission’s Secretariat in Warri, Delta State, in the early hours of Wednesday March 30, told newsmen that Hon. Michael Diden, the Managing Director, Bashorun Askia Ogieh and other Board members of the Commission, have refused paying them their money, despite all entreaties to that effect, vowing that from Thursday March 31, they will deny workers and members of DESOAPADEC Board, access to the Commission’s Secretariat, until they receive their payment, estimated to be in the region of five billion naira (N5,000,000,000.00).

Some of the aggrieved DESOPADEC contractors with placards, at the entrance of the Commission’s Secretariat

Mr. Orugboh, who recalled how Hon. Diden had on Sunday November 28, 2021, promised to personally hand over the contractors’ demands to Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa and set up a tripartite meeting between them (the contractors) the Managing Director of DESOPADEC, Bashorun Askia Ogieh and himself (Hon. Diden) during a meeting held in Sapele, Delta State, noted: “They have paid themselves more than 11times, without paying contractors. No new contract is being award to us, they award fresh contracts to themselves. We own this Commission, yet we are not benefiting from it anymore. We went to the Police and we were at AIG’s office yesterday, advising us to calm down. We got information from a reliable source in Abuja that in the year 2021 alone, the derivation money that came to Delta state, was one hundred and forty seven billion naira (N147,000,000,000). They will owe contractors N100miliion and pay a paltry N250,000.00 from it. There is money to pay and they are refusing to pay us. They can’t use COVID-19 as an excuse. How can you issue contract to somebody for the past 10years and refuse to do revalidation? Most of us took loans from the bank. They seized somebody’s house, yesterday, even the dead-body of one of our colleagues, is being seized at the morgue. Today is peaceful, but we cannot guarantee peace from tomorrow. More than 2,000 of us (Contractors) are affected by the inhuman treatment of DESOPADEC”.

A cross section of the protesting DESOPADEC Contractors. Right is Mr. Fidelis Ete Orugboh

Another aggrieved contractor, who addressed the media, Engr. Eric Kiap of Kiady Global Resources, averred: “I did a jetty walkway in Usor Community, a contract awarded to me since 2017 and DESOPADEC is owing me balance of fifty two million naira (N52,000,000.00). I borrowed money from Zenith Bank, all efforts to recover my money from DESOPADEC, has been in vain. Ejele, Griftson, Askia and the rest (members of the Commission’s Board) have refused to pay us, we don’t want to make this state ungovernable for anybody, we are owing school fees and our people are hungry”.

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