● Says: Ex-President Could Not Complete Even 10 Kilometres of Road For The Region
Senate President Godswill Akpabio has explained how political interference and budget fragmentation prevented former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration from completing even basic infrastructure projects in the Niger Delta region.
Speaking during the 25th anniversary of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) covered by Channels TV, Akpabio narrated how lawmakers’ demands derailed development efforts. …CONTINUE READING
“The past national assembly members also saw your confusion and added more. So, even before you can get your budget passed, they will also insist, ‘Do this for my region, do this.’ At the end, you balkanise the entire budget,” Akpabio explained.
The Senate President revealed the devastating impact of this budget fragmentation on infrastructure development in the oil-rich region. “You (Jonathan) could not complete even 10km of quality road for the Niger Delta region; you left behind over 14,700 projects abandoned because regime change. And after regime change, it brought with it new projects, new ideas that were never crystallized,” he said.
Akpabio praised President Bola Tinubu’s approach to addressing these systemic problems by ensuring management stability at the NDDC. “So, today, President Bola Tinubu has mounted the saddle as President of Nigeria. He has realized that continuous and consistent changes in the management of NDDC was totally inimical to the progress of the Niger Delta region,” Akpabio stated.
The Senate President endorsed the current leadership structure under the Tinubu administration. “Hence the reason why we have assessed the management under Dr. Sam Obugu and found it worthy,” he concluded.
The Senate President also highlighted that the Niger Delta Development Commission was a major creation of the National Assembly, emphasizing the legislature’s crucial role in its establishment. He noted that the National Assembly exercised its constitutional power to override a presidential veto for the first time to ensure that the NDDC Act became law.
The Senate President stressed that without the National Assembly’s intervention, the NDDC would not exist, explaining that this historical precedent is why they are present to support the commission at its 25th anniversary.
