The Ad-hoc committee investigating abandoned projects executed by Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) on Monday frowned against non-payment of over N1 trillion debt owed the contractors.
Worried by the development, the chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Hon. Ossai Nicholas Ossai, who spoke during the resumed investigative hearing held in Abuja, threatened to make sure that no fund is appropriated in the 2020 budget of the Commission.
Hon. Ossai revealed that almost all the contractors who executed one project or another in the Niger Delta region for the development of the area were still being owed by the NDDC.
Ossai noted that from the documents submitted to the Committee, many of the contractors had completed their jobs and are still being owed for so long after they executed jobs for the Commission.
According to him, “for contractors who have finished their jobs and have not been paid, we are going to use our powers to ensure that provisions are made in the next budget for such otherwise we may not pass it”.
Some of the contractors who appeared and also made presentations lamented that the agency was currently having a debt profile of one Trillion Naira in the projects that had been executed in the nine Niger Delta States.
One of the contractors, Fubara Blessing who told the Committee that so much money had been voted for NDDC but non of the contractors had been paid by the agency.
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He advised the committee to ensure that it plucks all the loopholes that had been identified in the payment system to ensure that no contractor is paid a by the Commission until all contracts awarded by it are completed.
On the other hand, Oghogho Emeni, Chief Executive Officer of Atom Global Contractors Ltd lamented that most female contractors are not given jobs to execute in the agency despite having qualifications to execute them.
The Committee adjourned the investigative hearing to Wednesday, September 25, 2019 for more contractors to appear and give more testimonies to the committee.
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