Minister of Niger Delta affairs, Umana Okon Umana, has warned that the era of frivolous projects by which billions of naira were siphoned out of the coffers of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is over.
The minister disclosed this during an interactive session with staff of the NDDC at its headquarters in Port Harcourt, recently.
He said the federal government has drawn a line against impunity in which one man could single handedly award a contract of N200 billion in the NDDC without following due process requirements.
Umana further directed the acting managing director of the NDDC, Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, to properly brief him on all cases of contracts that did not follow due process, and should equally carry out an earlier presidential directive that the commission should conduct a staff audit that would help to ascertain that it has the right caliber of staff properly deployed to ensure the achievement of its mandate, warning that any attempt to undermine the conduct of the personnel audit would be sanctioned.
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The minister also directed the acting managing director of the commission to prioritise staff welfare, deploying a situation in the past when non-essential expenditure on desilting was elevated above staff welfare.
He said the era of impunity was over, and urged all staff in the commission to commit to a new day and a new era of professional work ethics and quality service delivery that truly adds value to the life of people in the Niger Delta.
On their effort to mitigate the sufferings of flood disaster victims across the Niger Delta region, the minister assured immediate and all-inclusive succour for all affected.
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On the devastated portion of the East-west road at Ihuike Community, the minister told journalists that he has directed the NDDC to engage SETRACO, the construction company working on the road, to quickly assess its damages in order to commence remedial repairs to restore the link between Rivers and Bayelsa states.
According to the minister, the provision of relief assistance to the displaced persons, as well as rebuilding damaged infrastructure across affected communities were top on the agenda of the ministry, NDDC and other organs of government and appealed to the people for calm.
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