NDDC resorts to borrowing despite N984b outstanding

• Seeks early approval of N1.9tr 2024 budget

Despite a compulsory remittance of three per cent of local and International Oil Companies (IOCs) budgets to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for the development of the oil rich region, the agency has resorted to borrowing to fund its 2024 budget.

Although the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and its parastatals were established, the region has continued to suffer deprivation in the form of bad roads, youth unemployment, among others.

NDDC recently disclosed its plans of taking N1 trillion loans from commercial and development banks to fund projects across the nine states of the region.

The Commission also expects N170 billion as arrears owed it by the Federal Government and recoveries by government agencies, a Federal Government statutory contribution of N324.8 billion, an ecological fund of N25 billion, oil company contribution of N375 billion and an Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N1 billion.

The Commission said that it planned to fund its legacy projects with the N1 trillion to be borrowed from the banks, while about N835. 222 billion will be spent on other development projects.

Confirmed debts owed to the Commission by IOCs, as obtained by The Guardian from the Probe Monitor Portal developed by the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity, currently stand at ₦455, 838, 000,000 ($273 million), while that of the Federal Government remains at over N1 trillion, which, according to elders of the region, has gulped over N3 trillion.

Also, funds that might be of use to the agency to prevent it from borrowing if its probes were not abandoned is that of the investigation of alleged illicit spending of N81.5 billion by a former Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the NDDC, led by Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei.

This development is coming even as the Managing Director of the Commission, Samuel Ogbuku, had revealed, at a recent virtual media tour of the Commission’s projects in the region, that the debt owed to the agency has risen to about $700 million (984,200,000,000.00).

MEANWHILE, the NDDC is seeking an early approval of its N1.9 trillion 2024 budget, saying such will help to fast-track development and socio-economic transformation of the region.

The NDDC boss, Ogbuku, said that a lot of progress was recorded by the Commission’s 2023 budget estimates, adding that many projects were completed by the Commission.
 
Ogbuku, while addressing the House of Representatives Committee on the NDDC, led by Erhiateke Ibori-Seun as Chairman, explained that in preparing the 2024 budget, the primary objective was to sustain a robust foundation for sustainable economic development and greener future for the region.

The NDDC boss stated that the proposed budget will be funded through Federal Government contribution, oil companies’ contribution, ecological fund, arrears owed the agency by the Federal Government and recoveries by Federal Government agencies revenue brought forward, borrowings and internally realised income.

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