Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Sam Ogbuku, has said the Federal Government owes the interventionist agency over N2 trillion.

Ogbuku said this when he appeared before the House of Representatives’ Committee on NDDC, chaired by Ibori-Suenu Erhiatake.

This sum, he said, was the accumulation of 15 per cent of the allocation of the nine states that make up the region, which is due to the Commission since 2000, but has never been paid.

He also lamented that despite the passing of the 2021, 2022 and 2023 budgets of the Commission, they were yet to get the funds till date.

He said: “I want to raise an important issue. When we talk about funding, the NDDC Act says the monthly allocation from the Federal Government is 15 per cent of the allocation of nine states of the Niger Delta. But I can tell you that since the inception of the NDDC, it has not received that.

“The Federal Government only budgets what it wants to give to the agency for that year. If you look at the 15 per cent, we are not getting the 15 per cent. Even with the removal of fuel subsidy and with the increment of states allocation, NDDC is still where it is. So, these are issues we want you to help us resolve and we have done our calculation that from 2000 till date, we can say we are owed over N2 trillion from what is supposed to be due to NDDC.”

Ogbuku, who assumed office in acting capacity in January this year, said that despite fast-tracking the three-year budget of the Commission, they were yet to receive the funds.

He also said due to the huge debt burden of the Commission, which was due to a malfunctioning of the system, they had to launch a public private partnership (PPP) arrangement in April this year, where private and public entities can also fund projects in the NDDC.