Re-nddc-invitation-to-tender-for-the-procurement-of-infrastructural-works-nddc-lost-focus-on-its-purpose
September 7, 2020 | News
RE: NDDC INVITATION TO TENDER (FOR THE PROCUREMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURAL WORKS) – NDDC LOST FOCUS ON ITS PURPOSE
Our attention was recently drawn to an advertorial placement by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) on Pages 33-47 of The Guardian newspaper of Monday, October 22, 2018, calling for the Invitation To Tender (For the Procurement of Infrastructural Works); and we could not help but conclude that the purpose for which the NDDC was primarily set up in the first place, has been defeated. This is hinged on the fact that it is becoming evident that politicians have practically hijacked the NDDC objectives to satisfy their own personal agendas.
The NDDC was established under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the year 2000 with the sole mission of facilitating even-rapid development in the Niger Delta geo-political region, specifically the development of the oil and gas producing communities in the region. But it has become obvious that the commission is working below expectation, as it has failed to bring aggressive development into these oil and gas producing communities in the Niger Delta region. This has made many well-meaning Nigerians to see the commission as a complete failure and waste.
For instance, if you go through all the listed infrastructural projects in the said above stated advertorial, which the NDDC is inviting tenders, you would hardly see any core oil and gas producing communities that are listed to benefit from these projects. Let me use Ughelli South Local Government Area (LGA) as a candid example. The only project mentioned in the said list in an oil and gas producing community in Ughelli South LGA, is under “Governance, Social Services & Sports – Construction of uncompleted Palace of Okobaro of Ughievewen Kingdom/landscaping, Otu-Jeremi, Ughelli South LGA.” Aside the fact that we do not even know of the existence of any UNCOMPLETED Palace of Okobaro of Ughievewen Kingdom, the major oil and gas producing communities in Ughelli South LGA are completely missing in the entire list of projects intended to be tendered for execution. There is also one under “Jetty/Shore Protection – Construction of concrete landing jetty, Olota, Ughelli South LGA.” But there are no evident NDDC projects in oil and gas producing communities of Ughelli South LGA like Otu-Jeremi, Iwhrekan, Ekakpamre, Effurun-Otor. So, we really do not understand why there are no listed infrastructural projects by the NDDC for these major oil and gas producing communities.
One of such outrageous projects also listed by the NDDC in the stated above advert to tender, is under “Energy & Power Supply – Construction of Solar Mini grid and retrofitting of lights to energy efficient lights to power only lighting point in the House of Assembly in Delta State.” Now what do we call this? What sort of fraud or broad-day light robbery is this in the name of a proposed listed project by the NDDC? Why on earth should the NDDC spend their budget on the Delta State House of Assembly (DSHA)? Do they need such a project to begin with? Does the DSHA not have their usual budgets in maintaining its complex facilities? The bottom line is that the said Project should be promptly canceled and given to oil and gas producing communities that have the need for it. Do they expect President Buhari to fly down here to physically execute NDDC projects the way it ought to be executed? These people should learn to do the needful.
It is as if some persons just sit in their air-conditioned offices to compose a list of infrastructural projects to be tendered and executed by the NDDC, without actually identifying the major oil and gas producing communities that need these developmental projects more. In Udu Local Government Area for instance, the major oil and gas producing communities are Otor-Udu, Ukpiovwin, Oghior.
We believe there is need for these major oil and gas producing communities in Ughelli South and Udu LGAs for instance, to wake up and start demanding/asking for what is due to them. Instead of fighting for NPDC/ND Western and Shell GMoU Leadership positions in their communities. It is imperative for the NDDC to tender/give viable infrastructural projects to the listed major oil and gas producing communities in Ughelli South and Udu LGAs. These include: Otu-Jeremi, Iwhrekan, Otor-Udu, Ukpiovwin, Oghior, Ekakpamre, Effurun-Otor, Okpare, Eyara, Ubogo, Umolo. Edjophe, Otor-Edo, Ogbe-Udu, Ekrokpe. That ridiculous idea of, if there is no known politician from these areas, then they will not be remembered; should be jettisoned by those concerned because it is anti-rural communities’ development.
I would strongly advise whomever that is in charge of allocating intended infrastructural projects and programmes in the NDDC, to visit these stated communities of the Niger Delta region and ask them on first hand, to indicate their pressing infrastructural needs in their communities, instead of sitting in the office to compose list of projects that we really do not know how they arrived at them.
It is no news that the NDDC has been performing below expectation. Its breathtaking incompetence and unconscionable wastes are captured in several past media reports stating that the projects abandoned by the commission over the years will cost N1.4 trillion to complete. Contrary to the claim that it has taken giant strides to facilitate the all-round development of the Niger Delta region and its people, the NDDC has been reportedly queried for abandoning 285 projects. An enquiry discovered that the projects were abandoned between 2005 and 2011, with other anomalies headlining the report. One of those incongruities is the discovery that the NDDC management had one time awarded a contract for the renovation of a privately-owned club in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. That is the sort of nonsense we see with the NDDC. With an annual average budget of N250 billion since 2010 (and an average of about N100 billion annually from inception), the commission has made a very poor return on the investment poured into it. The NDDC has become notorious for shoddy and late budget preparations too. It is not enough to have some few projects here and there and they exclaim that billions have been expended. The question is; has the Commission been able to regularly and judiciously account for every penny that comes into its purse? Do all the present executed projects of the NDDC since its inception, correspond to all the funds yearly coming into it from the government purse and IOCs?
We have stated it on several occasions that the NDDC is nothing but another wasteful government agency that has become a conduit pipe for pilfering public funds to the detriment of the people of the Niger Delta region whose farm lands, rivers/creeks, natural environment and atmosphere have been destroyed and polluted by the extractive industry. As far as we are concerned, it is better for the funds used by the NDDC to be used to ‘directly’ to fund projects and programmes in oil and gas communities, instead of using it to fund NDDC activities/operations. The NDDC is just existing to enrich individual politicians. This has been the situation with the commission right from its inception. All the major oil and gas producing communities in the Niger Delta region have been denied of developmental projects and programmes meant to come from the NDDC. This has to stop, starting with the stated intended tenders for infrastructural projects listed above.
Zik Gbemre.
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes as if Those Were Our Causes
Our attention was recently drawn to an advertorial placement by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) on Pages 33-47 of The Guardian newspaper of Monday, October 22, 2018, calling for the Invitation To Tender (For the Procurement of Infrastructural Works); and we could not help but conclude that the purpose for which the NDDC was primarily set up in the first place, has been defeated. This is hinged on the fact that it is becoming evident that politicians have practically hijacked the NDDC objectives to satisfy their own personal agendas.
The NDDC was established under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the year 2000 with the sole mission of facilitating even-rapid development in the Niger Delta geo-political region, specifically the development of the oil and gas producing communities in the region. But it has become obvious that the commission is working below expectation, as it has failed to bring aggressive development into these oil and gas producing communities in the Niger Delta region. This has made many well-meaning Nigerians to see the commission as a complete failure and waste.
For instance, if you go through all the listed infrastructural projects in the said above stated advertorial, which the NDDC is inviting tenders, you would hardly see any core oil and gas producing communities that are listed to benefit from these projects. Let me use Ughelli South Local Government Area (LGA) as a candid example. The only project mentioned in the said list in an oil and gas producing community in Ughelli South LGA, is under “Governance, Social Services & Sports – Construction of uncompleted Palace of Okobaro of Ughievewen Kingdom/landscaping, Otu-Jeremi, Ughelli South LGA.” Aside the fact that we do not even know of the existence of any UNCOMPLETED Palace of Okobaro of Ughievewen Kingdom, the major oil and gas producing communities in Ughelli South LGA are completely missing in the entire list of projects intended to be tendered for execution. There is also one under “Jetty/Shore Protection – Construction of concrete landing jetty, Olota, Ughelli South LGA.” But there are no evident NDDC projects in oil and gas producing communities of Ughelli South LGA like Otu-Jeremi, Iwhrekan, Ekakpamre, Effurun-Otor. So, we really do not understand why there are no listed infrastructural projects by the NDDC for these major oil and gas producing communities.
One of such outrageous projects also listed by the NDDC in the stated above advert to tender, is under “Energy & Power Supply – Construction of Solar Mini grid and retrofitting of lights to energy efficient lights to power only lighting point in the House of Assembly in Delta State.” Now what do we call this? What sort of fraud or broad-day light robbery is this in the name of a proposed listed project by the NDDC? Why on earth should the NDDC spend their budget on the Delta State House of Assembly (DSHA)? Do they need such a project to begin with? Does the DSHA not have their usual budgets in maintaining its complex facilities? The bottom line is that the said Project should be promptly canceled and given to oil and gas producing communities that have the need for it. Do they expect President Buhari to fly down here to physically execute NDDC projects the way it ought to be executed? These people should learn to do the needful.
It is as if some persons just sit in their air-conditioned offices to compose a list of infrastructural projects to be tendered and executed by the NDDC, without actually identifying the major oil and gas producing communities that need these developmental projects more. In Udu Local Government Area for instance, the major oil and gas producing communities are Otor-Udu, Ukpiovwin, Oghior.
We believe there is need for these major oil and gas producing communities in Ughelli South and Udu LGAs for instance, to wake up and start demanding/asking for what is due to them. Instead of fighting for NPDC/ND Western and Shell GMoU Leadership positions in their communities. It is imperative for the NDDC to tender/give viable infrastructural projects to the listed major oil and gas producing communities in Ughelli South and Udu LGAs. These include: Otu-Jeremi, Iwhrekan, Otor-Udu, Ukpiovwin, Oghior, Ekakpamre, Effurun-Otor, Okpare, Eyara, Ubogo, Umolo. Edjophe, Otor-Edo, Ogbe-Udu, Ekrokpe. That ridiculous idea of, if there is no known politician from these areas, then they will not be remembered; should be jettisoned by those concerned because it is anti-rural communities’ development.
I would strongly advise whomever that is in charge of allocating intended infrastructural projects and programmes in the NDDC, to visit these stated communities of the Niger Delta region and ask them on first hand, to indicate their pressing infrastructural needs in their communities, instead of sitting in the office to compose list of projects that we really do not know how they arrived at them.
It is no news that the NDDC has been performing below expectation. Its breathtaking incompetence and unconscionable wastes are captured in several past media reports stating that the projects abandoned by the commission over the years will cost N1.4 trillion to complete. Contrary to the claim that it has taken giant strides to facilitate the all-round development of the Niger Delta region and its people, the NDDC has been reportedly queried for abandoning 285 projects. An enquiry discovered that the projects were abandoned between 2005 and 2011, with other anomalies headlining the report. One of those incongruities is the discovery that the NDDC management had one time awarded a contract for the renovation of a privately-owned club in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. That is the sort of nonsense we see with the NDDC. With an annual average budget of N250 billion since 2010 (and an average of about N100 billion annually from inception), the commission has made a very poor return on the investment poured into it. The NDDC has become notorious for shoddy and late budget preparations too. It is not enough to have some few projects here and there and they exclaim that billions have been expended. The question is; has the Commission been able to regularly and judiciously account for every penny that comes into its purse? Do all the present executed projects of the NDDC since its inception, correspond to all the funds yearly coming into it from the government purse and IOCs?
We have stated it on several occasions that the NDDC is nothing but another wasteful government agency that has become a conduit pipe for pilfering public funds to the detriment of the people of the Niger Delta region whose farm lands, rivers/creeks, natural environment and atmosphere have been destroyed and polluted by the extractive industry. As far as we are concerned, it is better for the funds used by the NDDC to be used to ‘directly’ to fund projects and programmes in oil and gas communities, instead of using it to fund NDDC activities/operations. The NDDC is just existing to enrich individual politicians. This has been the situation with the commission right from its inception. All the major oil and gas producing communities in the Niger Delta region have been denied of developmental projects and programmes meant to come from the NDDC. This has to stop, starting with the stated intended tenders for infrastructural projects listed above.
Zik Gbemre.
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes as if Those Were Our Causes