A report from the NDDC shows that a total of 1,587 projects managed by the Niger Delta Development Commission, valued at N612.4 billion, have been canceled and left unfinished in the Niger Delta area.
According to The Punch, data from the report stated that 325 projects totaling N204.64 billion in value were stopped or abandoned, while 1,262 projects in the region valued at N407.75 billion had been canceled.
The percentages of the finalized and stalled/abandoned projects’ total contract values were 7.4% and 1.9%, respectively.
The NDDC’s assessment was made public in the July 2023 report by the NDDC-PPP Committee, “A sea of opportunities in the Niger Delta region,” which our correspondent was able to access.
The report provided a breakdown of the regional projects that had been finished, were in progress, had not yet begun, were stalled/abandoned, had been terminated, or had been taken over by other agencies.
According to the report, the Niger Delta had seen the completion of 7,140 NDDC projects totaling N1.66 trillion, or 41.9% of the overall contract value in the area.
There are 3,251 active projects with a combined value of N1.5 trillion, or 19.1% of the total contract value of projects being managed by the commission.
According to the study, 5,035 projects totaling N1.45 trillion, or 29.5% of the total contract value, had not yet been completed while 32 projects totaling N21.55 billion, or 0.2% of the overall contract value, had been taken up by other authorities.
The report stated, in part, “It was against the foregoing premise that the current board and management, in its bid to do things differently to effectively drive sustainable development in the region, decided to espouse the Public Private Partnership model to provide alternative sources of funding for key developmental projects and programs.”
Therefore, the Managing Director/CEO on January 18, 2023, established a management committee on public-private partnerships, known as the Public Private Partnership Committee.
The managing director of the NDDC, Samuel Ogbuku, stated that in order to bridge gaps in the region’s sustainable development, the commission made a conscious effort to deepen partnerships with development partners and the private sector.
Ogbuku said, “This is through the coordination of development interventions for better effectiveness and impact.”
Furthermore, according to the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Shuaib Belgore, the dialogue was one of many plans made by the ministry and the NDDC to “fast-track the development of the Niger Delta region through extra-budgetary provisions aimed at meeting socio-economic needs in the region.
“I also think that this platform would give stakeholders a chance to look back on our previous regional development efforts together and create a new, more robust roadmap based on integrity and corporate governance structure.”
