…says ministry owes contractors N50bn
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Engr. Abubakar Momoh, has said that the ministry owes contractors over N50 billion from projects executed, ongoing projects and abandoned projects.
He stated this when he appeared before a Joint Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to defend his 2024 budget and explain how his budget performed in 2023.
According to Momoh, the budget of the ministry is meagre, and many of the things the ministry is supposed to do are being performed by other agencies.
He said an amnesty programme which deals with disarmament is now carrying out programmes of development and empowerment.
“There are a lot of programmes going on in the Niger Delta which ordinarily should be done by the ministry,” Momoh said.
On the 2023 budget performance, he said the ministry’s budget estimate was N14.5 billion but even though N11 billion was later approved, only N4.2 billion was released which, according to him, was too small to even embark on a road project.
“A total of 14.5 billion was the estimate including capital, recurrent and overheads but what came to the ministry was just N4.2 billion out of the N11 billion that was approved. The 2023 budget performance is put at 37 percent,” Momoh said.
“The N14 billion budget estimate is meagre to meet the requirements of the ministry. How many kilometres of road can N4 billion construct?
“We have a lot of abandoned projects. We have a lot of completed projects. Those that have been awarded and have not been paid are worth over N50 billion,” he said.
Momoh said since he took over as minister, he has got over 2,000 requests from people asking for training in the Niger Delta.
“If I have the required resources, be assured that I will do a lot,” he said.
The minister said the Ministry of Finance was aware of the N50 billion debt, but he did not know whether the president was aware because, according to him, he has not had the opportunity of discussing the issue with the president.
The chairman of the Senate Committee, Babajide Ipinsagba, said the committee would do everything to ensure that the people that are being owed are settled since most of them took loans to do the projects.
“If a contractor completed his job, it is expected that once the minister approves, you should get your money in two weeks,” Ipinsagba said.
“But you have to upload the approval and another person will determine if there is money to pay for the job done,” he said.
The Chairman, House of Reps Committee on Niger Delta, Ugonna Ozurigbo, said the minister should look at projects he can complete and commission and not embark on projects that will later be abandoned.
