NDDC to clear backlogs of foreign scholarships —Ndoma-Egba

The Governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has pledged to clear the backlog of fees and all issues surrounding its post-graduate foreign scholarship programme.

The chairman of the Board, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba SAN, gave the assurance while briefing the press after a meeting of the board in Abuja, on Friday.

Ndoma-Egba, in a statement by Director, Corporate Affairs, NDDC, Ibitoye Abosede, stated that the Board reviewed the activities of the bommission in the year, took statutory reports on procurements, budget performance, revenue and expenditure.

Senator Ndoma-Egba said: “By Tuesday, next week, all outstanding issues regarding the foreign scholarship scheme would have been sorted out.”

He also stated that the Board ratified a decision to cancel 482 projects between 0-5 per cent startup, valued at about N 90bn, which he said was in a bid to clean up the commission’s books and remove non-performing items.

The chairman gave an insight to what was expected in the year 2018, in his briefing. He declared: “Our Signature project, the Ogbia-Nembe Road, which is our flagship for partnership with oil producing companies, will be ready this December and we are looking forward to commissioning it early next year.”

He also said that the Board took a decision on some MOU’s signed with state governments on projects that would be jointly executed and emphasised that 2018 would be dedicated largely to reforming NDDC systems, audit of personnel, restructuring the commission’s governance protocols and projects, with more focus on ongoing projects.