By Our Reporter
Sylvester Nsa immediate past Commissioner representing Cross River State in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has joined calls by the State Governor, Senator Ben Ayade and other stakeholders that the NDDC Act and master plan should be reviewed to accommodate disadvantage States like Cross River over the loss of Bakassi and its Oil wells.
Nsa in a statement issued in Calabar, Cross River State and made available to newsmen on Friday said despite the inadequacies of the NDDC Act that inhibit Cross River State in its sharing formula NDDC in the State under his leadership has been able to attract 61 project which have been executed and completed while 34 projects are currently ongoing at various locations across the State.
A breakdown of the projects by NDDC in the State according to him shows that 20 emergency repairs roads had been commissioned while 41 are waiting commissioning by the NDDC.
According to him, contractors have been mobilized to site for the construction of 6 bridges and roads at various locations while 4 contractors are yet to be mobilized to site.
The Former Commissioner said out of a total of 119 projects approved by the Board of NDDC for the State, 61 had been completed and 34 are ongoing and 20 already commissioned in the last four years.
Nsa who was reacting to the press statement issued by the Governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade when its Acting Managing Director Prof. Nelson Brambaifa paid him a courtesy call said the Governor was in right because the current master plan plays more emphasis on oil producing States of which Cross River has been deleted and placed on a disadvantage position because of the loss of its oil wells.
Nsa said, “I shared the concern of other Stakeholders and that of the Governor of Cross River State for an urgent review of the Act so as to allow Cross River State benefit equally in terms of projects allocation and 13% derivation across board.
“We lost Bakassi and 76 oil wells due to no fault of ours, it was a decision taken by the International Court of Justice and the Federal Government of Nigeria, rather than compensate the State for the loss, we are being punished through the Act”. Nsa said.