NDDC
Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Samuel Ogbuku, has said the agency is seeking to raise N1 trillion to fund critical projects in 2024.
He said the commission plans to source the money for the budget through borrowing from commercial and development banks.
Ogbuku stated this on Tuesday while defending the commission’s N1.91tn 2024 budget before the House of Representatives committee on NDDC.
The NDDC also said the commission hopes to receive the sum of N170bn, being arrears owed it by the Federal Government and recoveries by government agencies; a Federal Government statutory contribution of N324.8bn, an ecological fund of N25bn, oil companies contribution of N375bn, and an Internally Generated Revenue of N1bn.
According to him, the commission planned to find its legacy projects with the N1 trillion to be borrowed from the banks, while about N835. 222 billion will be spent on other development projects.
He said the present Management was renavigating its process of intervention by adopting the Public-Private-Partnership model as a vehicle to drive sustainable development in the Niger Delta Region.
He said the commission was also partnering with the Industrial Training Fund to gainfully engage the youth of the region to reduce crime and economic sabotage.
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He added that through its free medical mission, the NDDC has provided health services to more than two million persons in the region, stressing that it would partner with stakeholders to invest meaningfully in the healthcare sector for the development of the Niger Delta.
“We awarded foreign scholarships to 750 individuals between 2023-2024 (and provided educational grants to 84 individuals, and we are in the process of distributing 45,000 U-lesson tablets preloaded with Nigerian and WAEC syllabus to schools in the nine States that make up the Niger Delta region,” he said.
“We are redefining the standards of governance and effectiveness in driving positive change in the region as we commissioned over five flagship projects within 10 days.”
He said the aggregate sum of N876bn was projected to fund the 2023 budget, adding “This comprises overhead costs of N174bn, personnel costs of N34.bn, internal capital costs of N3.7bn, and Capital costs of N820.5bn.
On the 2023 budget, he said as of April 30, 2024, “The commission’s actual aggregate revenue inflow was N683.2bn which is approximately 78 per cent of the targeted N876bn, comprising N146.4bn and N394bn representing 141 per cent from oil and gas companies.”
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