Bayelsa tracks NDDC projects to uncover abandoned schemes

Bayelsa State Government has commenced community by community tracking and profiling of all projects awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) with a view to ascertaining those abandoned and uncompleted since inception.

The exercise, which is been carried out by the office of Technical Adviser and Focal Person on NDDC to the state Governor, Senator Douye Diri, is expected to involve community leaders and traditional rulers in all the communities towards tracking the projects.

In a chat with newsmen in Yenagoa, Nyenye Matthias, an NDDC technical adviser, said they were also developing an app for the uploading of the tracking report to enable residents of the state have access to the status of NDDC intervention in the state.

He said: “First, as we all know, the NDDC, as an interventionist agency, have several projects it has awarded across Bayelsa; sadly most of these projects were either abandoned or not completed.

“This is a concern to both the state and the Federal Government, which led to the carrying out of a forensic audit of the Commission.

“At the level of the state, my office is also carrying out a tracking of all NDDC projects in communities across the state. We have concluded in two councils (Sagbama and Kolokuma/Opokuma) and are looking forward to concluding the remaining six councils.”

He added: “Just a few days ago, we had the visit of the Interim Administrator/CEO of the NDDC to the state. The visit provided opportunity for the state government to engage the NDDC on mutually beneficial issues in the spirit of partnership and collaboration. We are looking forward to having more NDDC interventions across the state.”

According to him, in the spirit of collaboration, the state government and the NDDC are organising an interactive session with traditional institutions and other critical stakeholders in the development process.

Matthias said the involvement of traditional institutions in the governance process would galvanise local participation and ownership of the projects in their domain.

“The aim of the interactive session is to seek for their support, collaboration and feedback on developmental issues in their domains.

“Earlier, I spoke about the project-tracking my office is carrying out. It is important to place emphasis on it, considering the huge amount of funds that has been dissipated on them.

“Remember the state government is contributing to the NDDC and, therefore, it is our concern that funds coming through the Commission are judiciously utilised.”