NDDC Wasted Scholarships on Politicians’ Children, Associates, Says MD

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was in the habit
of awarding scholarships to children of politicians and their
associates thereby wasting the opportunities that should have been
used to develop the children of poor rural folks.

The revelation was made yesterday by the acting Managing
Director/Chief Executive of NDDC, Dr Joi Nuneih, when she led a
delegation of the commission to pay courtesy visit on Abia State
Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu at the Government House, Umuahia.

She regretted that the award of scholarships to the privileged
persons at the expense of those that actually needed such
opportunities was among the various ways past managements of NDDC
had vitiated the noble intentions of the intervention agency.

Before now the NDDC was giving scholarships to 2,000
politicians’ children and their associates but today we would
rather give scholarships to 5,000 rural children,” she said.

The CEO of NDDC explained that she was at government house to
present to Abia governor a list of 633 conventional projects in the
state, some of which are ongoing while some were claimed to have
been completed.

According to her, the list of NDDC projects in Abia “is very
important” as it would enable the state government to actually
assess how far the intervention agency has impacted on the lives of
the people, adding that the projects included road projects,
primary healthcare centres, hostels, among others.

Ikpeazu said that he was delighted that “for the first time” the
NDDC “is responding positively” to issues that concern the
development of the people of its mandate areas.

He expressed his excitement over the appointment of Dr Nuneih to
sanitise the NDDC as she has courageously proved that Mr. President
had made the right choice in giving her the mandate to sanitise the
NDDC.

The Abia State governor lamented that the state has not really
felt the impact of NDDC, noting that the Ohanku road project in
Abia represents a crying example of how NDDC has failed the people
of Abia with plethora of abandoned projects.

He called for streamlining of procurement and project selection
by NDDC and to award its contracts outside the season of elections
as such contracts were usually based on political exigencies
instead of due diligence and socioeconomic impact on the
people.

In his remarks, the spokesman of the House of Representatives
and member of the House Committee on NDDC, Hon Benjamin Kalu, said
that federal lawmakers were in support of Mr. President’s decision
to a point an interim management to sanitise the NDDC.

“We are standing with Mr. President on this and we’re saying
that it is high time we cleaned up the NDDC,” he said, adding that
Buhari acted within his constitutional powers.

He stated that the NDDC has failed to deliver its mandate to the
people, noting that if the agency had lived up to expectation the
burden of providing developmental infrastructure would have been
lessened in the NDDC states and quality of life improved among the
people.