The NDDC has reacted to the chairperson’s remarks.
The chairperson, Governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Lauretta Onochie, has declared as “illegal, null and void,” a $15 billion railway line agreement signed between the commission and a United States-based company.
Information from the commission website indicates that its managing director, Samuel Ogbuku, on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Atlantic Global Resources Inc, to build a railway network to connect the nine states in the region.
The two parties, the commission said, signed the agreement at a ceremony which was part of a one-day Public Private Partnership (PPP) Summit organised by the commission in Lagos.
Thisday newspaper reported that the event was attended by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Umana Umana, former Governor of Edo State and Senator-elect, Adams Oshiomhole, and other leaders from the South-south.
But reacting to the MOU, Mrs Onochie in a statement on Friday described the agreement as dubious and illegal, claiming that it was done without the knowledge of the commission’s board.
According to her, the Act establishing the interventionist agency, empowers the chairperson of the board to sign MoUs on behalf the agency.
“The ‘US Company’, Atlanta Global Resources Inc., has no expertise nor experience in any form of construction, let alone Railway construction. This company is a Management and Export Consulting Firm without known notable Directors.
“Thus, the signing of an MOU to the tune of $15 billion with such an organisation is not only suspect but dubious,” she said.
Mrs Onochie wondered why the commission should embark on such a project after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had in 2021 awarded a $11.7 railway contract that would connect states in the region from Lagos.
“It is shocking that after the FEC, the highest ruling body in the country, had done this, that anyone would be signing an MOU on behalf of the NDDC and the Federal Government of Nigeria for the same project in 2023 without due process nor approval by the FEC in the twilight of President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
“The same clumsy, shady and hazy transactions of the past in NDDC, that had bedeviled and stultified identifiable progress in the past, was rested with the ‘Forensic Audit’ and the inauguration of a new board, with the sanitisation of the commission as its mantra.
“However, old habits die hard. And some individuals (within and without the Commission) still retain the retrogressive mindset that has held the Commission down for the past 22 years. We cannot remain in the old dubious path,” Mrs Onochie said.
She said the present Board of the commission is committed to transparency, justice and ready to midwife other policies and programmes that would improve the lives of the people of the region.
NDDC reacts
The NDDC management in its reaction said it signed MoU for a preliminary process for a railway network and not award of contract.
In a statement on Friday by it director of corporate communications, Ibitoye Abosede, did not reference the statement made by the chairperson of the commission board, Mrs Onochie, but said the MoU it signed may have been misconstrued by some persons to mean Engineering, Procurement, Construction, EPC, contract.
“What we signed on 25 April is simply the opening phase that will determine how far we will go, but definitely showcases how interested the international partners are in tapping into the Niger Delta region.
“This means that we are looking at a bright and prosperous Niger Delta from the prism of the PPP,” Mr Abosede said, adding that the model is to provide alternative sources of funding for key projects and programmes.
