Ondo to get more NDDC projects

The Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs Ibim Semenitari, on Monday, declared that Ondo State would be given preferential treatment in the 2016 budget.

Semenitari disclosed this in Akure, Ondo State capital, during a two-day training programme for top management team of the commission on procurement and due process mechanism.

According to her, projects awarded to the NDDC states were subjected to the production quota policy and Act, which stipulates that projects should be awarded to states according to the oil produced by the existing nine oil producing states in the nation.

The Acting Managing Director of the NDDC said that “this year, in our budget proposal, those who produce more are actually getting a bit less than their production quota; and those who don’t produce as much are getting more than their production quota.”

She explained that the motive was to ensure even distribution of projects and development.

Semenitari, however, said that the commission would embark on projects inspection across the state, saying her last visit to the sites of ongoing projects in the state was to ensure that no project was abandoned by the contractors.

“We must be able to deliver development in the Niger Delta to the people of the region for whose purpose we are established; and so, we need to improve our own expertise on procurement so that we deliver projects at a good cost to the people,” she said.