Niger Delta will benefit from Buhari's administration, Oshiomole assures NDDC

Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole says the Niger Delta region will benefit immensely from the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari even though he is from the North.

Speaking during the visit of Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw and other members of NDDC Board, including the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bassey Dan-Abia to his office, Oshiomhole said events of the past few years have shown that the friends of the Niger Delta are not necessarily from the region.

He said: “I am aware that the Board has initiated a number of projects and according to you, you have over a thousand of them totaling over a trillion naira. These are huge numbers. The expectations of the people of the Niger Delta are very high as they expect that the intervention agency would find resources to address their critical needs. I also know that the Board has been afflicted by critical Nigerian disease namely: clarity of ideas and the need to take extra-ordinary measures.”

The Governor stressed, “the law is specifically clear as to how NDDC should be funded and all that is expected is that the Federal Ministry of Finance or to be more specific, the Federal Government ought to ensure that the law they had passed and signed which are in operation are enforced to the letter so that it can compel the Board to ensure that the fund is judiciously expended. I am very confident that President Muhammadu Buhari, given his passion for development as a trusted friend of the poor masses which is his own main constituency, will do everything possible to look at the letter and the spirit and do whatever has to be done to ensure that the law of NDDC is complied with.”

Speaking further, the Governor said, “We governors of the South-South region are meeting in the last week of this month (July) and one of the issues to be discussed will be how we can collaborate to ensure that NDDC delivers on its mandate and get the support of the appropriate authority so that it has the wherewithal to deal with projects that will impact on the region.”

He advised the State Commissioners on the NDDC Board to ensure that the views they canvass at the commission reflect the expectations of the people of their states.

Speaking earlier, Chairman of NDDC Board, Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw appealed to Governor Oshiomhole to intervene on behalf of the NDDC to get the funds due to the Board released.

According to him, the NDDC has not been funded, according to law, since 2001 and over N800 billion due to the Board unremitted.

×