The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has promised that it would henceforth pay its contractors and consultants their money as and when due.
Mr Chris Amadi, NDDC Acting Executive Director, Finance and Administration, said this in a statement by the commission’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Ibitoye Abosede, in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
Amadi, who was quoted to have spoken when he visited the Eze Apara Rebisi of Port Harcourt, HRM Victor Woluchem XII, said the commission took the decision to promote transparency.
He said: “The commission has charged NDDC director of finance to ensure that a more efficient process is applied in paying for projects as well as meeting contractors’ obligations.
“In a couple of days, we are going to start payment to contractors owed between N20 million and below.
Amadi said the new NDDC management had resolved to fully discharge the commission’s mandate while intervening in specific projects that would impact positively on the people.
“There will be no need for contractors and consultants to come to NDDC before they can get paid. They can simply stay in their offices and give us necessary information.
“We want to right some wrongs and ensure that never again will our people suffer in the midst of plenty,” he assured.
Responding, Eze Woluchem, while congratulating Amadi on his appointment on the board of NDDC, described the appointment “as breaking the glass ceiling for Ikwerre people.”
Earlier, Eze Aniele Orlu-Iriebe urged the new NDDC management to tackle development in the region using “a bottom-up approach to development.”
“If this is done; communities will feel obliged to own the projects executed for them. To this end, the commission must shun the practice of abandoning projects,’’ he advised.
