Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa
The Bayelsa State Government has been tracking and profiling all projects awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in all communities with a view to ascertaining those abandoned and uncompleted since inception.
The exercise, which is being carried out by the office of the Technical Adviser and Focal Person on NDDC to the state Governor, Senator Douye Diri, is expected to meet communities’ leaders and traditional rulers, and track all the projects.
In a chat with journalists in Yenagoa, the Technical Adviser on NDDC, Nyenye Matthias, said they were also developing an app where they can upload the entire tracking report so that with just a click of the finger, Bayelsans can access the status of NDDC intervention in the state.
He said: “Firstly, as we all know NDDC as an interventionist agency that has several projects awarded across Bayelsa State, sadly most of these projects were either abandoned or not completed.
“This is a concern to both the state and the federal governments, which led to carrying out of a forensic audit of the commission.
“At the level of the state, my office is also carrying out a tracking of all NDDC projects in all the communities across the state. We have concluded in two LGAs (Sagbama and Kolokuma/Opokuma) and are looking forward to concluding the remaining six LGAs.
“We are also developing an app where we will upload all the tracking reports, so that with just a click of the finger, Bayelsans can access the status of NDDC intervention in the state.
“Just a few days ago, the interim administrator/CEO of the NDDC visited the state. The visit provided opportunity for the state government to engage the NDDC on mutually beneficial issues in the spirit of partnership and collaboration. We are looking forward to having more NDDC interventions across the state.”
He said subsequent to this commitment and the spirit of collaboration, “the state government and the NDDC are jointly organising an interactive session with traditional institutions and other critical stakeholders in the development process.”
Matthias said the direct involvement of traditional institutions in the governance process would galvanise local participation and ownership of the projects in their domain.
According to him, “The aim of the interactive session is to seek their support, collaboration and feedbacks on developmental issues in their domain.
“Earlier, I spoke about the project tracking my office is carrying out. It is important to place an emphasis on it considering the huge amount of funds that has been dissipated on them.
“Remember that the state government is contributing to the NDDC, and therefore, it is our concern that funds coming through the commission are judiciously utilised.
“The tracking report for the two LGAs we have completed shows a very dismal performance of the commission as none of the LGAs had up to 50 percent of project awarded completed. We are hoping that after the tracking exercise and the interactive session, the state government and the NDDC will discuss strategies on how to avoid such scenario going forward.”
