By NWADIKE UGOCHUKWU, Port Harcourt
The Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, has assured that the commission will utilize judiciously the N24 billion budget appropriated by the National Assembly for infrastructural development in the various communities in the Niger Delta region.
Semenitari, speaking to National Daily in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said that a lot of considerations were made before the budget was finally approved, adding that the budget would have been more than the amount approved but due to the financial challenge which the Federal Government is facing, the National Assembly decided to allocate that amount to the commission.
The NDDC boss pointed out that her administration would always give priority programmes to the people of the region by providing infrastructural facilities to alleviate their sufferings, despite the financial challenges.
She regretted that though the amount approved for the commission would not be enough to meet all the financial needs projected for the year, she assured that the various categories of contractors with the commission would be used on the new projects to be embarked by the commission in the region.
She said that each of the contractors would be verified before payment would be made, stressing that the commission would always insist in the quality and status of the work done before payment would be made.
According to her, the commission has confidence in the contractors but payments would be done based on the performance of the work and no extra amount of money would be added to them.
The Acting Managing Director said that already work has commenced in Rivers State which would soon spread to other Niger Delta states in no distant time.
Semenitari, who spoke extensively on the activities of the commission in the region, explained that since inception in office, she was able to ascertain the level of performance of her predecessors, promising that all the communities would always benefit from projects within the limited amount approved for the commission.
She believes the core mandate, which is to facilitate sustainable development in the Niger Delta region, is to take development to the Niger Delta communities and improve the living conditions of the people. To achieve this giant stride, it remains the vision of NDDC to take development to the people, through projects and initiatives that would have direct positive impact in their lives and help boost traditional livelihoods.
To achieve this, she said, “We must strengthen our state offices, by providing a befitting
edifice that encourages professional conduct, hard work, and commitment to duties, as well as decentralizing operations. That is why the completion and commissioning of the Rivers State office is very important. We are making a statement about how important our communities are and how we must do the best we can to serve them.”
Semenitari said the Rivers State office of the NDDC is one of the nine (9) state office buildings proposed by the Commission, in keeping with the strategy of establishing a stronger presence in all the states, in order to serve the communities better.
Finally, the project was planned on a fast track to be completed within nine months. To achieve this, a composite project team of clients’ representatives, consultants and contractor was set up with goals and targets clearly defined in order to realize the task as planned, she explained.