Business
‘NDDC’s Unspent Fund Missing’
The Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) have raised alarm that the N26.4 billion unspent funds in last year’s budget of NDDC is missing from its 2009 budget proposal.
The committees raised this alarm at the meeting of NDDC budget defence session in Abuja over the weekend.
The committees said, it is not clear whether the money was deliberately omitted, even though the commission should have factored in left over funds to bring its revenue to N128.5 billion.
A total of N96.4 billion budget was initially submitted to the National Assembly, but because of non-payment of contractors by the Federal Government, the three construction companies have threatened to abandon N230 billion road projects in the Niger Delta.
The Senate NDDC Committee’,s chairman, Nicholas Mutu said that the committees also have identified unlawful unilateral variations in the execution of the previous budget, and warned that the committees will no longer accept the practice where the NDDC makes changes in its budget without approval from the National Assembly.
He said that the Appropriation Act must be respected, adding that future alteration would not be tolerated. He said, time has come for the NDDC to increase the pace of project execution and ensure transparency in its operations to help bring to an end the activities of militants in the area.
Mutu urged the NDDC to explore public private partnership (PPP) as well as other development and financial instruments to broaden its revenue base and augment statutory allocations.
In his own reaction, the House of Representatives Committee Chairman on NDDC, Olaka Nwogu disclosed that Reynolds Construction Company Nigeria (RCC) was paid N5,684,881,518.18, out of N35.6 billion for the dualization of 97 kilometres East-West Road (Section III) from Eleme junction in Port Harcourt, Rivers State to Eket, Akwa Ibom State.
According to him, Gitto Construction Company got the contract of N26 billion to dualize the East-West Road (Section IV) from Eket to Oron in Akwa Ibom State, while the contract of N74,806,197,097.37 for the dualization of 47 kilometres East-West Road from Port Harcourt to Ahoada and the dualization of 54 kilometre East-West Road from Warri to Kaima (Section I and II) were awarded to Setraco Nigeria after Julius Berger quit the job. He said the contractors want an additional N28 billion to complete the projects in time.

Operators of an illegal oil mill trying to put out the fire after its forced closure at Ubima, recently.
Business
PH Refinery Fully Operational – NNPC

Business
Revenue Mgt: NEITI Wants Improved Fiscal Discipline, Transparency … As FAAC Disbursement Hits Record N15.26trn
Business
Trans Niger Pipeline In Rivers Resumes After Fire Incident
-
Sports5 days ago
Bayern Fail To Win, Again In Bundesliga
-
News23 hours ago
Tinubu Orders Investigation Into Karu Tanker Explosion
-
Sports22 hours ago
Nigeria Finishes Second At IHF Tourney
-
News5 days ago
Tinubu Congratulates Osakwe On UK Cybersecurity Award
-
Niger Delta22 hours ago
Police Nab Man For Killing Girlfriend
-
Nation20 hours ago
‘Education, Powerful Tool For Equipping Visionary Leaders’
-
News1 day ago
NAFDAC Alerts Public On Counterfeit Injection
-
Politics22 hours ago
Senate, Reps Endorse Emergency Rule In Rivers, As Akpabio Shuts Down Dickson