Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has assured the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, that poor funding of the Commission will stop with the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that the current leadership in the country will enforce the statutory obligations of the Federal Government to the NDDC, unlike previous administrations.
The governor stated this at the Government House in Benin when members of the Board of the commission paid him a courtesy visit on Monday.
Disclosing this in Port Harcourt, NDDC’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Toye Abosede, said on Tuesday that Oshiomhole explained that the people of the Niger Delta region were expecting much from the Commission as a result of the challenges facing them. The governor also pointed out that the people of the oil-rich region were still facing the problem of oil pollution and other forms of environmental hazards.
He said: “The current leadership of the country, unlike the previous administrations, will enforce the laws concerning the statutory obligations of the Federal Government to the NDDC.
“The expectation of the people of the Niger Delta from the NDDC is very high because of the varied challenges facing the inhabitants of the oil-producing region, especially with respect to oil and gas pollution as well as environmental hazards.
“The South-South Governors’ Forum will soon meet to articulate the way forward for the region. The governors from the South-South share a common passion with NDDC for the development of the region,” the governor said.
According to the statement released by Abosede, the Chairman of the NDDC Board, Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw, lamented that the activities of the commission were being hampered by funding challenges.
Ewa-Henshaw specifically said that over N800bn due to the interventionist agency had been withheld over the years, adding that N45bn ecological funds accruing to the NDDC were also outstanding.
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