Niger Delta affairs Minister, Usani Uguru Usani, has
disclosed how previous administrations collected over N420 billion for projects
in the Niger Delta but ended up not executing any.
Usani was speaking to journalists in Calabar over the
weekend, where he noted that Niger Delta Affairs Ministry never existed until
now.
According to him, “There was an amorphous organisation
called a ministry. But there was no ministry. So, attempting to get things in
proper perspectives became the first responsibility, which, so far, is
beginning to take proper shape.”
He said he met on ground an “organised chaos and a
deliberate action of disorder.
“It was a situation where people thought that the Ministry
of Niger Delta Affairs was a platform for collecting and sharing.
“That is the reason we had more than N420 billion disbursed
in the ministry and the rate of project completion was just 12 per cent. There
was so much waste.
“In every state of
the Niger Delta, there are housing estates of two-bedroom and three-bedroom
units. They have skills acquisitions centres. Only one has been completed and
donated to the Federal University Otuoke.
“The rest are not complete, like the popular East West road,
which seems to characterise the image of the ministry.”
“What we are trying to do is reward contractors who have
shown true diligence in execution and should be encouraged by being mobilised
further to return to site.
“And those who are in liability against the recent
mobilisation are requested or advised to return to site until they get to the
level of project execution that will be commensurable to what they have gained
financially.”
He recalled that the East West road, “was first awarded in
2006. One decade has passed and it has not been completed. Yet, it is of so
much economic and social importance to the region.”
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