NDDC Boss, Ogbuku says dam, camps will combat flooding
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) on Wednesday, said it had concluded plans to tackle the increasing threats of flooding in the Niger Delta with a dam project plus camps in worst hit areas.
The Managing Director, Samuel Ogbuku, who disclosed this in Port Harcourt, said camp sites in Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers states would be built as temporary scheme while a dam would be the permanent solution.
Ogbuku said that the dam scheme would be a disaster-to-asset, noting that where flood is a disaster, dam is an asset. It would supply light through power generation and with the liberalization of the power sector, become a huge income generation project by using the power purchase agreement (PPA) mechanism.
The MD stated that the designing of the project is in progress after which the NDDC would meet partners and the Federal Government to agree on execution and participation levels, adding that it would be completed in November 2023 which is when he said flooding is heaviest.
He said camps would also provide administrative ease by isolating the victims and administering food supplies directly to them, and that N100bn has been provided in the 2023 budget to pay debts.
In the past, he stated, CEOs decided not to pay and rather awarded their own contracts. He further noted that even if the N100bn was small compared with over N1trillion owed to contractors, but it was better for hope to be rekindled that money is now being paid gradually.
On poor budgeting system whereby little amounts are captured in annual budgets for big-ticket projects, the MD said it has given the Commission huge headache.
“Imagine a situation where a project is costing N50bn and you get less than N10bn in one year. It means it will take many years to complete it. Add this scenario to frequent change of CEOs who would want to award their own contracts, the result is mere chaos”, Ogbuku stated.
He further talked on the need to close the communication gaps and widen transparency by engaging in interactive sessions with the media more frequently.
He agreed that more consultation is going on with new governors of the Niger Delta states as governing board members to brief them on activities, but noted that they already have representatives in the NDDC and in the budget committee.
