The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has said that oil companies in the Niger Delta region owe the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) about $5.6 billion and N649 billion.
The Minister disclosed this while chatting with journalists shortly after he received the Nigerian Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Tijani Muhammad-Bande, in his office in Abuja.
The Minister said that the Federal Government had already set up a committee headed by the Minister of Finance to recover those monies.
“As I speak now, the Federal Government has set up a committee headed by the Minister of Finance to recover monies that were owed to the NDDC, and at the last count, about $5.6 billion and about N649 billion are monies owed to the NDDC by oil companies.
“So the NDDC itself is on life support because what they get on a monthly basis is just enough to pay their salaries and maintain their offices but people are not aware,” the Minister noted.
While receiving Muhammad-Bande, Senator Akpabio said President Muhammadu Buhari would be commissioning a1050 bed hostel in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State by December 30th this year.
The Minister also said that the President is also expected to commission another 132kv substation in Ondo State, which will supply power to about five local governments that have been in darkness for 14 years.
“On the 30th of this month, the President will commission one out of numerous hostels that we are building through the NDDC and donated to the Nigerian students, one of them is a 1050 bed hostel out of which 50 units will be for students living with disabilities.
“That has been completed with 24,000 gallons of water per day, two standby 1200kva generating sets, and 5000 vehicular space for parking and amazing for both boys and girls that have been completed.
“So, on 30th of this month, we will be at the University of Uyo for the commissioning of the project by Mr President.
“Immediately after that, by January, we should be going to Ondo to commission a 132kva substation that will supply power to about 5 local governments in the state, and unfortunately, that 5 local governments have been in darkness for 14 years,” he said.
The Minister further stated that many projects have been completed in the Niger Delta region while many are still ongoing, such as the East-West Road that is expected to be completed by the end of next year.
“We have completed many projects also, the East-West road is on-going with about 41 bridges and we have moved it from 76 per cent complete that we met on the ground to over 82 per cent as I speak now, and I believe that sections 1-4 which is a distance of 338km will be commissioned by Mr President by the End of Next year.
“So, a lot of changes are taking place in the region outside human capital development, we are also involved in skills acquisition, we have built skills acquisition centres in all the 9 states of the Niger Delta, and many of them have been completed”, he said.
Senator Akpabio however, sought collaboration with the United Nations in the areas of youth development, environment sustainability and many others.
Earlier, the Nigerian Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Tijani Muhmmad-Bande, commended the Minister for the development and peace experienced in the Niger Delta Region
