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Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives has directed the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to deploy its 2019 budget towards settling its existing liabilities.
Chairman, House Committee on NDDC, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, gave the directive, when the management of the interventionist agency appeared before the committee to defend its 2019 budget estimates, yesterday.
Tunji-Ojo lamented that due to alleged rot, the commission was 14 months behind schedule in its the presentation of its 2019 budget to the National Assembly and subsequent implementation.
Regardless, he said when approved, all ongoing projects in the NDDC 2019 budget will be rolled over to the Commission’s 2020 budget, which will be considered after the approval of its 2019 budget.
According to him, as part of the measures towards the implement the recommendations reached by the House, on the NDDC 2019 budget, agency must present list of all contractors being owed to the committee.
The lawmaker stated that contractors will only be paid after their claims have been verified and approved by the committee. Tunji-Ojo urged the NDDC to recover the over N1 trillion it is being owed by various entities to help it offset its liabilities.
