NASS members accused of manipulating NDDC project

Tribune

20 February 2012

NASS members accused of manipulating NDDC project

CONTRACTORS with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) have accused members of the National Assembly committees on the commission of engaging in sharp practices that would leave the oil-rich region with countless abandoned projects.

The contractors, under the aegis of Niger Delta Contractors Association (NDCA), alleged that members of the committees had removed projects issued in 2010 from the 2011 budget so as to prepare room for bigger projects that would be executed by the members.

The leader of the group, Mr Anderson Braide, who spoke with journalists in Port Harcourt on Sunday, said almost in all the states of the Niger Delta region, “the majority of the projects which were duly awarded to contractors have either been removed from the next budget or cancelled outright.”

Braide accused the lawmakers, who he said had the privilege of vetting the budget as prepared by the NDDC, of expunging the affected projects to give way to “mega jobs which are assigned to the legislators.”