The Rivers State Representative on the Governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Tony Okocha has urged contractors working in the state for the commission to return to site.
Chief Okocha made the call Tuesday, during an interactive session with the contractors at the NDDC, Rivers State office in Port Harcourt.
Addressing the contractors, who attended the meeting in large numbers, Chief Okocha said that the meeting was called at the instance of the Board and Management of NDDC to interact with the contractors directly, to ascertain their challenges, recommendations, and suggestions.
He reassured the contractors that the present NDDC Governing Board, headed by the Chairman, Barr. Chiedu Ebie, and the MD/CEO, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku were poised to rewrite the history of the Commission by ensuring that contractors were given proper and appropriate attention, thereby urging the contractors to return to their sites.
He cautioned the contractors against rendering substandard jobs when awarded contracts in Rivers State to avoid the attendant consequences of such acts, as the commission was determined to deal with such contractors.
The Rivers NDDC representative thanked President Bola Tinubu for gathering the best of the best in the constitution of the 7th Governing Board of the NDDC and pleaded with the President to remove the commission from the TSA to enable the speedy delivery of projects and prevent project abandonment.
Those who spoke on behalf of the contractors included Chief A. C Ordu, and General Ebi Chimezie, among others, thanked the Rivers State Representative for initiating a meeting which they described as important noting that it is the first of its kind since the history of the Commission.
They narrated the challenges faced by the contractors and made useful suggestions on the ways to assist the Commission to deliver on their mandate.
The contractors unanimously pleaded with President Tinubu to remove NDDC from the TSA, saying it was the only way NDDC can successfully deliver the desired benefits to the people of the Niger Delta.
Recall that in a recent interaction with members of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, Chief Okocha revealed that the NDDC had a total of 953 abandoned projects in Rivers State alone.
He stated then that the current Board and Management of the NDDC would make a clean departure from that narrative urging the federal government to be more consistent in its appointment of the board of the commission as he blamed frequent change of the board to be partly responsible for abandoned projects by the NDDC.
“In my study, it was clear that Rivers State is number two, in terms of states that have abandoned projects. Rivers State has 953 abandoned NDDC projects. These projects are dotted around the books and crannies of the state”, Chief Okocha told the Royal Fathers.
