A group, Movement for Sustainable Development of the Niger Delta (MSDND) has written a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly (NASS) to allow the management of the NDDC to commence the payment to hundreds of the agency’s contractors.
The group said though the House of Representatives Committee on NDDC chairman, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, was right to question the legality of the payment due to the delay in the defence of the commission’s budget, the immediate commencement of payment to the contractors would ameliorate the sufferings of the people of the region.
It requested Buhari, the minister of Niger Delta Affairs Umana O. Umana and Tunji-Ojoto work in synergy with the Federal Ministry of Finance to release the over N200 billion of NDDC funds that have been withheld by the finance ministry within the past years.
In a statement signed by its MSDND national coordinator, Chief Ayibatekena Olodin, said, “In spite of the support for the National Assembly Committee to ensure proper corporate governance, accountability and probity in the NDDC, there is the need to commence the payment of contractors while the perfection of the NDDC budget defence is ongoing.”
Olodin called on Umana Umana and the management team of the NDDC to seek presidential approval for the approved N46 billion in partnership with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for the procurement of housing facilities, food and medical assistance to millions of displaced families across the Niger Delta states.
