President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has given the Nigerian Delta Development Commission (NDDC) the nod of approval to access the N1trillion loan facility to facilitate the commission’s projects.
The president, who was a special guest of honor at the summit, was represented by the Nigerian Senate President, Godswill Akpabio. The president via his proxy announced this in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, on Friday during the Niger Delta Stakeholders Summit 2024.
On Tuesday, Samuel Ogbuku, the Managing Director of the NDDC stood before the House committee of NDDC while defending the proposed N1.9 trillion budget of the commission for the 2024 fiscal year.
The NDDC MD said the agency would access a N1 Trillion loan facility to fund capital projects in the Niger Delta region. He disclosed that the loan would be sourced from development and commercial banks to fund “legacy projects”. In his remark at the summit, Mr Tinubu via his proxy said, “The NDDC has never had the kind of budget that they are having in 2024.
“The president has approved that they can go ahead and get a soft loan of N1 Trillion to complete all the projects that they have in mind in order to bring quick development to the Niger Delta region. “So the MD of NDDC, it is no longer going to be a question of funds or the lack of it, it is going to be a question of commitment.”
Mr Tinubu went further, “You are not going to have people come from Abuja, stay in hotels, and collect money from NDDC to spend in other states within the federation. You are going to spend the NDDC money right here in the South-South region.”
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Notably, the president reiterated his commitment to “tackle” the East-West Road, which links the states in the Niger Delta region, as well as ensure the overall development of the region.
“The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway started by the president will not only start from Lagos, Mr President has also agreed that it must also take root from Niger Delta simultaneously then converge with the one in Lagos.”
President Tinubu, sticking with his belief in agriculture, also encouraged the NDDC management to go into massive agricultural production, which could feed the Niger Delta region and other parts of Nigeria.
“The Niger Delta can feed itself even in terms of rice production. In agriculture, take up. Create fish ponds, and empower the people of the Southernmost part of Nigeria. Go ahead with swampy rice projects. Make sure we give rice to Nigeria. Let us not only be defined by oil; let us be defined by our agricultural output for the rest of the country,” he said.
It remains to be seen how things pan out.
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