The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission ICPC, Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC have criticised the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and government institutions over lack of commitment and non transparency which results to projects abandonment.
They made this criticism at a one day Regional Conference held in Port Harcourt which was organized by the Social Development Integrated Centre (Social Action) in collaboration with African Centre for media and literacy supported by MacArthur
The Conference equally criticized all the Government Institutions and various tiers of government for lack of commitment, focus and transparency in their day to day transactions.
The theme of the conference is Tracking Trends of corruption through Abandoned Projects where the speakers argued that the problems of abandoned projects in the country were due to deeply rooted corruption in the system especially the government.
The keynote address was delivered by the chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC); Dr Musa Abubaka which opportunity he used to laud the courage and boldness of the organizers who endeavoured to champion such a very sensitive “Tropical course despite litters of abandoned projects in the Niger Delta Region”
According to him, corruption had increased astronomically in the cost of governance in the country, giving rise “in the significant reduction in capital expenditures, which has in turn manifested in poor infrastructure and poor delivery of public services which invariably had led to abandoned projects”
Dr Musa regretted that 18 years after the establishment of NDDC to help develop and rebuild the Niger Delta Region, it is still struggling to complete projects that had time lines and completion schedules.
This he attributed to “perhaps due to contractors negligence and lack of commitment and incompetence, or the unwholesome elements trying to defraud contractors by demanding for percentage of their due payments before such payments were made, this stalling the execution of projects that would have added value to the lives of the Niger Delta inhabitants”.
He therefore pleased with stake holders to wage a timely intervention in the ugly situation of abandoned projects in Niger Delta Region.
Speaking, the EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Magu represented by his zonal chairman Mr Nnaghe Obono Itam thanked the Social Action (the organizers of the conference) for their choice of Niger Delta Region as the starting point for the discussions on how to tackle the systematic corruption in relation to abandoned projects, stressing that ours is a country littered with abandoned projects initiated across the three tiers of government, the federal, state and local Government where trillions of Naira are wasted in abandoned projects there by denying the Nigerian citizens the value for which the projects were intended.
Earlier on and in her welcome address, the Programme Director of Social Action Mrs Vivian Bellonwu Okafor said that the aim of the probe into the menace of abandoned projects was to ensure that public funds were utilized for the development of social infrastructure and to the benefit of the people.
