Fund NDDC budget, contractors urge FG

Forum 9 months ago

Fund NDDC budget, contractors urge FG

Contractors working for the Niger Delta Development Commission have called on the Federal Government to urgently release the sum approved for the commission’s budget.

The Senate had in May approved over N1tn for the 2021 and 2022 budgets of the commission.

However, the Niger Delta Indigenous Contractors Association, on Thursday, decried the delay in the release of the funds, saying it was affecting NDDC’s performance.

The National President, NDICA, Dressman Darlinton-Gbolobofa, told journalists in Port Harcourt that the release of the funds would enable the interventionist agency to function optimally and deliver on its mandate.

Darlinton-Gbolobofa said, “It is one thing for the budget to be passed and approved, it is another thing to fund the budget.

“So, we are pleading with the Federal Government to release the funds to the commission so that the MD and his team can carry out their functions effectively.”

Similarly, he called on multinational oil and gas companies operating in the region to fast-track the release of their funds to the NDDC to enable the management to resolve its contractual liabilities.

While lauding President Bola Tinubu for the dissolution of the board of some federal patastatals, the association thanked the President for sparing the NDDC management, led by Dr Samuel Ogbuku, whom it described as a man of “proven integrity and competence.”