NDDC Sets Aside N6.7bn For Projects In LGAs

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has budgeted N6.75billion for the execution of poverty reduction projects in 45 local government areas in the region this year.

Managing Director of NDDC, Mr Chibuzor Ugwuoha, said this in a presentation at the 34th Annual International Conference and Exhibition of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Nigeria Council, at Tinapa, Calabar.

Ugwuoha said that no local government area had been named as a beneficiary of the project but explained that for an area to benefit, it would enter into partnership with NDDC.

“The idea is that any council from the region ready to benefit will commit N15million, while NDDC puts in N30million for each project under this new policy,” Ugwuoha said.

He said he was extremely concerned about the level of poverty and poor infrastructure in the region, and appealed to members of SPE to partner with the commission on human capacity development.

He said that one of major challenges of the region was the dearth of qualified technical manpower, and pledged the willingness of NDDC management to partner with any organisation that could help resolve the problem.

Cross River State Governor, Liyel Imoke described the hosting of the conference in the Niger Delta as a sign of good things to come.

He noted that over the years, stakeholders in the oil and gas sector had been hosting their activities outside the region, thereby closing the window for the region to know what was happening in the sector.

Imoke said that the problem of insecurity which most organisations were using as an excuse was no longer noticeable in the region, and called for closer working relationship between multi-national companies and Niger Delta people.

Chairman of the conference organising committee, Mr Anthony Abolarin, said that in spite all odds, the attendance of the 2010 conference was the highest in the last five years.