NDDC: Akinjo Protests Marginalisation of Ondo State, Demands Equitable Treatment
The Member representing Ilaje/Ese Odo federal constituency of Ondo state in the House of Representatives, Hon. Kolade Victor Akinjo (PDP) has condemned the unjust treatment of Ondo State by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The federal lawmaker challenged the management of NDDC to put an end to the continuous marginalisation and complete neglect of oil producing communities in the state especially in the siting and execution of the commissions projects.
Hon. Akinjo made his position known in Abuja at an investigative hearing of the House of Representative Ad-Hoc Committee on abandoned projects by the NDDC on Wednesday.
A visibly angry Hon. Akinjo queried why out of numerous projects the commission said it executed in the nine states of the region at the cost of N82.7billion, only one project was given to Ondo state.
The lawmaker reminded the management of the NDDC that the commission came into being through the “struggle and blood” of the people of the Niger Delta region and therefore its projects should benefit all the people of the region instead of becoming a source of sorrow and conduit pipe for enriching few powerful people to the detriment of the region and its environment.
“I have a very strong conviction that NDDC is a commission created out of the struggle and blood of so many people of the Niger Delta Region and that organisation is not run by astrologers or by imported foreigners.
“This organisation is run by Niger Deltans and I think as a representative of the people and someone who is also from that region, my heart bleeds over some of the developments in that region.
“I want to put it on record because we are elected by the people, and we are the defenders of the constitution and we made the law that established that organisation and I sit down [here] to hear what is going down in that institution.
“I’m crying and I need to place it on record, if that organisation is a just one and it wrote that “emergency” [projects], despite the fact that we have not verified the legality of the letter written to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and on your outline that you spent “over N82 billion on “emergency” [projects] and you know the implication of the word “emergency”, it cannot be classified of stratified, then you put in Ondo state one project out of N82.7billion naira project!
Hon Akinjo said, “I come from the coastal part of Ondo state and my people are crying there everyday. The Atlantic Ocean has taken over about 180 kilometres of our land. I am saying this because, there is no justice [in the action of NDDC towards Ondo state]. And when there is no justice there can be no peace.”
Decrying the poor quality and rate of abandonment of projects that the people of the Niger Delta and Ondo state in particular depend on for their economic and social survival, Hon. Akinjo pointed out two major projects in Ondo state that have been abandoned after the commission had paid over N6billion on to the contractors handling the projects.
Wondering why the projects are abandoned, Hon. Akinjo queried the status of Ugbowe road in Ondo state.
He quarried: “Is the job reassigned, has it been withdrawn, that job is completely abandoned after the government has paid over N5billion, where is the contractor, Moreno consortium?”
“Agadagba/Obowo bridge that job is also abandoned after nearly 1billion naira has been paid, shoreline protection projects in the coastal and oil producing areas of Ondo state have all been abandoned, they are physically abandoned.”
The lawmaker also lamented the impassable nature of Igbokoda-Ilaje road after the NDDC spent over N9billion naira on the road. He challenged the NDDC on the unfortunate fact that since the agency was established and after budgetary allocation of over N2trillion there was no “signature” project the commission can lay claim to in the Niger Delta region.
