Bayelsa govt laments abandonment of NDDC projects in state

Bayelsa State Government has expressed concern that the majority of the projects awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) across the state are either abandoned or not completed.

The government, through the Technical Adviser to the Bayelsa State Governor on NDDC, Mr Nyenye Kuro Matthias, made the lamentation on Tuesday during an interaction with select journalists in Yenagoa, the state capital, on Tuesday.

Matthias said the government had developed an application (app) to upload the entire tracking report to access the status of projects of the intervention agency in the state.

The Technical Adviser, who is also the state’s Focal Person on NDDC, said: “As we all know, the NDDC as an intervention agency has several projects it has awarded across Bayelsa State. Sadly, most of these projects were either abandoned or not completed.

“This is a concern to both the state and the Federal government, which led to the carrying out a forensic audit of the commission. At the level of the state, my office is also carrying out a tracking of all NDDC projects in communities across the state.

“We have concluded in two local government areas (Sagbama and Kolokuma/Opokuma) and we are looking forward to concluding the remaining six LGAs. We are also developing an app where we will upload the entire tracking report so that with just a click of the finger, Bayelsans can access the status of NDDC interventions in the state.

“Just a few days ago, we had the visit of the Interim Administrator of the NDDC, Effiong Akwa, to the state. The visit provided opportunity for the state government to engage the NDDC on mutually beneficial issues in the spirit of partnership and collaboration. We are looking forward to having more NDDC interventions across the state.

“On behalf of Governor Douye Diri I wish to thank the Interim Administrator and the leadership of the NDDC for their understanding of the issues in the state.”

He stated that subsequent to the commitment and the spirit of collaboration, the state government would jointly organise an interactive session with traditional institution and other critical stakeholders in the development process.

Matthias said the direct involvement of the monarchs in the governance process would galvanise local participation and ownership of the projects in their various domains.

He stressed that the aim of the interactive session was to seek the monarchs’ support, collaboration and feedback concerning the developmental issues in their domains.

Matthias added: “On the project tracking my office is carrying out, it is important to place an emphasis on it considering the huge amount of funds that has been dissipated on them.

“Remember, the state government is contributing to the NDDC and therefore it is our concern that funds coming through the commission are judiciously utilised. The tracking report for the two LGAs we have completed shows a very dismal performance of the commission as none of the LGAs had up to 50 per cent of project awarded completed.

“We are hoping that after the tracking exercise and the interactive session, the state government and the NDDC will sit and discuss strategies on avoiding this scenario going forward.”