by crossriverwatch admin
Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Senator Bassey Henshaw, on Tuesday said the commission owed contractors over N1trn.
The NDDC chairman, who spoke in Calabar when he received the Commissioner representing Cross River State on the board, Mr. Paul Adah, however said all contractors, whose jobs had been certified in line with the specification of the commission would be paid.
Despite the huge debt, Henshaw said the present board of the commission would embark on legacy projects in order to key into the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.
He added that the board would also follow the directive of Mr. President over the embargo on the award of new contracts.
Henshaw said, “We will follow the President’s directive on ‘no award of new contracts’. Part of the reasons that is responsible for the inability of contractors to do their jobs is lack of monitoring and proper evaluation of work done.
“To solve this problem, we will engage professional consultant to monitor and evaluate the state of work done on the sites of all the projects in order to enable us get first-hand information. The state of abandoned projects is worrisome.
“We are also worried about the debt incurred by the commission. We may not have funds to pay the debt which is over N1trn but all the contractors whose jobs are certified in line with the specification of the commission will be paid.”
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