NDDC chief warns erring contractors, Isoko honour Ogaga Ifowodo

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is determined to clampdown on contractors found to have diverted funds meant for execution of projects in the oil-rich region for personal use, a senior official has said.

The commissioner representing Delta State on the NDDC’s board, Dr. Ogaga Ifowodo, restated the commission’s resolve on the matter while speaking at Oleh, Isoko North Local Government Area during a reception in his honour by the people of the ethnic nationality.

It was organised by the Isoko Development Union (IDU).

Ifowodo, an Isoko indigene, lamented that some unpatriotic contractors had misappropriated funds meant to address the developmental challenges of the Niger Delta.

“There will be no sacred cow in the fight to reclaim monies that were meant for development of the region,” the literary scholar said.

“The present membership of the NDDC board is seriously committed, dedicated to realizing the ideals of the commission; the NDDC board will spare no one.”

Describing contractors “that put us in this perpetual darkness” as witches and wizards, Ifowodo, however, noted that any erring one who re-mobilizes to site would be given a second chance.

Also speaking at the ceremony, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 general election, Olorogun O’Tega Emerhor, thanked the Isoko nation for the honour bestowed on Ifowodo.

He urged the people to support the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC in the 2019 general election.

The chairman of the ceremony, Chief Joe Arausi called on Buhari to find lasting solutions to the recurring problem of militancy in the Niger Delta and fashion out means of moving the country out of the present economic recession.

He also enjoined the new board of NDDC to address the issue of non-inclusion of Isoko youths in the presidential amnesty programme.

Some groups have also lauded Ifowodo’s appointment. They include Isoko Lions Movement (ILM), Isoko National Youth Centre and African Network for Empowerment and Strategy (ANES).

They spoke through their leaders, Comrade Anthony A.A. Ogbalor (Youth Centre), Emonena Cyril Oshogbor (ILM) and Ogbo Nasser (ANES), saying Ifowodo was an astute intellectual whose pro-people antecedents were nationally and universally acknowledged.