Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha has called on the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to address the alleged marginalisation of the state by the commission.
Governor Okorocha said this yesterday when the members Committee, led by its chairman, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi paid him a courtesy call at the Government House, Owerri.
The governor stated that the NDDC had not done well in Imo State.
According to him, “If there is any state that has not benefited from NDDC programme, it is Imo State. We are worst for it. There is no single project completed by NDDC in Imo State, except boreholes and renovation of classrooms.
“Something has to be done and urgently too in Imo by the commission, to give the state a sense of belonging.
“There must be change of attitude on the part of NDDC. Irrespective of political parties, we are one when it comes to governance. Governance is the key because the essence of democracy is to produce for people, good leaders who will provide for the people dividends of democracy, and where this is lacking, democratic structure has failed.”
The governor complained that “it is only in the NDDC that one kilometre of road is awarded for N500 million and in Imo, we do it for N70 million; yet the NDDC contractors wouldn’t do the job. The Senate should ask the contractors to come and do the job; we are not interested in recovering the money. We want the job done.”
Speaking earlier, Chairman of the Senate committee, Senator Nwaoboshi told the governor that they were in the state on fact-finding mission to enable them carry out total evaluation of NDDC jobs from 2000 till date, and to also find out whether the performance of the commission had actually affected the lives of the people in the NDDC states.
-dailtpost