NDDC Clarifies On N2Trn 2024 Budget

The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has clarified why the National Assembly approved a budget of N1.9 trillion for it to spend in 2024.
In a press statement issued on Friday, the NDDC Director of Corporate Affairs, Seledi Thompson-Wakama, said the National Assembly was impressed with the performance of the commission and that was why it did not waste time in approving its budget proposal for the year.
Thompson-Wakama was responding to an open petition to President Bola Tinubu and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Budget by the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations for the Advancement of the Niger Delta Development that NDDC ran an anti-people budget in 2024
The NDDC Director said the petition was a misleading impression of the execution of the budget.
The petition entitled, “NDDC Anti-Peoples Budget: Dissecting the Samuel Ogbuku 2024 Leaked Budget,” alleged, among other things, that the NDDC budget had “been a closely guarded document.”
But Thompson-Wakama said, “The performance of the NDDC in driving the development process in the Niger Delta region must have encouraged the National Assembly to approve the N1.911 trillion 2024 budget of the Commission promptly.”
She ran a list of projects executed by the NDDC within the budget year and said their smooth delivery impressed the National Assembly.
“Between May 18 and May 28, 2024, the NDDC commissioned the 9km Obehie-Oke-Ikpe road in Ukwa West LGA, Abia State; the 27.5 kilometre Ogbia -Nembe Road, constructed in partnership with Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC; the 1×15MVA 33/11KV electricity injection substation in Amufi, Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area in Benin City, Edo State; the 45km double-circuit 33KV feeder line from Omotosho Power Station to Okitipupa, Ondo State and the NDDC 6km Iko-Atabrikang-Akata-Opulom-Ikot Inwang-Okoroutip-Iwochang Road and 600m Ibeno Bridge in Ibeno LGA, Akwa Ibom State.
“These landmark projects, among the 92 infrastructure projects completed at the cost of N84 billion across the nine mandate states of the NDDC, speak of the impact the Commission is making in the quest to quicken the pace of development in Nigeria’s oil-rich region.
No doubt, regional development requires robust funding to effectively address specific and urgent development needs in the Niger Delta region. Adequate funding is critical to the implementation of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu’s administration.”
The NDDC Director said the 2024 budget was to be partly funded with N1 trillion from development and commercial banks to complete 1,006 legacy projects across the region is pragmatic.”
The projects, she said, include the completion of Obehie-Azumini-Etim Ekpo Road, linking Abia to Akwa Ibom States valued at 39.8 billion; construction of Iko-Atabrikang-Akat-Opolom-Ikot Iwang-Okot Utip-Iwuo Achang Road with 70-metre span bridge valued at N18.9 billion; power station for Oron nation, comprising of 58km, 123Kv Double Circuit Transmission line from Eket to Oron in Akwa Ibom at N48.1 billion; construction of Otuogori-Otuegwe Bridge in Ogbia LGA of Bayelsa State valued at N29 billion.
“Others are the construction of the Ogheye-koko-Escravos Road, Phase II in Delta State valued at N26 billion; the construction of Uzere-Patani Road in Delta State at the cost of N17 billion; the Construction of Okpella-North Ihie-Agerebode Road Phase II in Edo State at the cost of N31.9 billion; construction of the Ugbo-Oghoye Road, Phase I in Ilaje LGA of Ondo State at the cost of N70 billion and the construction of Ahoada-Abua-Degema road and Bridges in Rivers State at the cost of N27 billion.”
She added that before the budget was passed sufficient consultations were were held with stakeholders like representatives of the state governments, oil companies, civil society organisations, development partners and federal ministries to discuss it and both chambers of the National Assembly
Seledi Thompson -Wakama took time to respond to issues raised by the Coalition of Civil Society organisations and said the monies spent by the commission were far less that alleged by the Coalition.
She said NDDC allocated only N180 million to the Ibeju-Lekki-Araromi-Ise-Akudo Road in Ondo State in the 2024 budget as against the N32 billion the coalition cited.
She also said only N300 million was approved for the Phase 1 Niger Delta Broadband Initiative project as against the N15 billion cited by the Coalition; and that N1.5 billion was budgeted for the Pron Model ICT Centre and not N5 billion.
Stating that the commission was conscious of the need to be seen as more accountable to the public and to conduct its affairs more transparently, Thompson -Wakama said, “Entrenching the tenets of accountability and transparency in its activities forms a part of the thrust of the new leadership embodied in its mantra of Transiting from Transaction to Transformation.”
She added, “Clearly, the allegations by the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations for The Advancement of The Niger Delta Development are misguided and flows largely from ignorance.”