Hon. Biyi Poroye asks NDDC contractors to return to site in Ondo or face the law.
– Steve Ovirih.
A stern warning has gone out to all Niger Delta Development Commission ( NDDC) contractors with abandoned projects in the NDDC mandate area of Ondo State from the Executive Director of Great Patriots for Better Initiative , Comrade Hon. Biyi Bill Poroye.
The warning is to the effect that after a month ultimatum which the body has issued to all the contractors to return to site and complete all abandoned projects, the contractors will have their day in court for breech of agreement and other charges deemed appropriate.
Hon. Biyi Bill Poroye gave this notice in a media briefing held in Akure, the Ondo State capital on Thursday, the 11th February , 2021. The briefing which was held at the behest of Great Patriots for Better Initiative , a non partisan advocacy group , expressed the disappointment of the people over the abandoned projects donning different part of the coastal communities of the southern senatorial district of Ondo State.
Poroye said right from the days of Oil Mineral Producing Area Development Commission ( OMPADEC) to the time when NDDC was established in year 2000, the responsibility of the Commission has always been government intervention towards engendering growth and infrastructural development of the oil producing communities of Niger Delta. He said it therefore beggars belief that contractors that have taken mobilisation fund have turned the Ondo Coastal communities to one huge site of abandoned projects , stressing that the development is unacceptable and the coastal communities have heard enough of their lackadaisical commitment to the completion of the contracts awarded them over the past years.
Speaking on behalf of ‘ Great Patriots for Better Initiative’ Hon. Poroye appealed to the Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta, Hon. Bunmi Tunji Ojo, to take up the matter and help compel the recalcitrant contractors to move back to site. ” Hon . Bunmi Tunji Ojo ,we believe in your leadership as a dynamic , trustworthy, progressive and energetic politician from our dear Sunshine State. Your action to have taken it as a priority to fight for the interest of your people and the masses is admirable and applaudable.
” We hereby plead with you sir , to take action by investigating this matter and ensure that the contractors move back to their project sites . If this can be achieved , it will complement the laudable projects of our performing Governor of Ondo State , Arakunrin Odunayo Oluwarotimi Akeredolu as coordinated by the office of his energetic and idealistic S A on works and infrastructure, Engr. Aminu Raimi,” Biyi Poroye noted.
Hon. Poroye said it is appalling that in the Niger Delta region and especially in Ondo State, there are splits of abandoned projects that contractors have refused to complete even long after they have been mobilised .
” We appeal to the Joint Committee of NDDC at The National Assembly to use their good office to rouse these indifferent contractors from their willy slumber so that their indifference will not continue to contribute to the underdevelopment of the oil producing communities of Ondo State,” Biyi Poroye added.
