Senate summons NDDC over abandoned projects

The Senate Committee on the Niger Delta has queried the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) over the state of abandoned projects under its supervision.

The committee which conducted an oversight tour of the Niger Delta area weekend has therefore summoned the officials of the commission for explanation on some issues concerning the projects.

It insisted that  the Managing Director of the commission, Christian Oboh; Executive Director, Projects, Edikan Eshett, and one of its contractors, FCC Construction Company, should appear before it next week to explain what went wrong with the abandoned projects.

The Senate committee chairman, Senator James Manager, who issued the summon threatened yesterday that the committee would not consider the commission's budget currently before the National Assembly until an evaluation of contracts  awarded last year was completed.

He said members of the National Assembly would press for the revocation of contracts, if the contractors are not serious and the jobs would be given to more serious companies.

'The budget for 2013 is with us and we have not opened a single page because we need to see the projects. Whatever our findings are, we will present them on the floor of the Senate,' he said.