Managing Director/CEO of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, declared on Thursday that the Management of the Commission had not asked anyone to negotiate percentage for the payment of contractors.
“We don’t have anyone collecting percentages for payments to any contractors. If anyone comes to you that they are collating names for payments to contractors, know that they are deceiving you. I am not a percentage Managing Director, and we are not a percentage Executive Management,” Dr. Ogbuku stated at the Commission’s maiden interactive session with its development partners.
The NDDC Managing Director began the maiden meeting with the Commission’s contractors on a note of remorse and apology to them.
“I know we have not been fair to you. If we have been fair to you, NDDC will not have a debt burden of over one trillion naira,” he said during the meeting holding at the Commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt.
Before his opening remarks, Dr. Ogbuku asked those present to rise and observe a minute silence in honour of contractors who have passed on.
Others present at the meeting were the NDDC Executive Director (Finance and Administration), Major-General Charles Airhiavbere; Executive Director (Projects), Mr. Charles Ogunmola; some Directors of the Commission and numerous contractors.
Describing contractors as partners “because we are co-partners in the development of the Niger Delta,” Dr. Ogbuku said, “I can assure you that we are here to make a difference and a change. We are here because we accord our partners the respect they deserve. We want to interact with them to ensure they do what is expected.”
According to the Managing Director, “the onus is also on our counterparts, our partners, to also reciprocate by conducting themselves in ways that are by the ethos of this new dawn. I want everybody to see this as a new day for us to work together in the interest of the Niger Delta.”
He explained that the meeting was an interactive forum in which the contractors could raise concerns and offer advice to the NDDC Management.
“We expect this session to be open, honest, and candid so we can look forward to a better tomorrow,” he said.
-NDDC Executive Director, Projects, Mr. Charles Ogunmola, at the Commission’s maiden interactive session with its development partners (contractors).
At #NDDC Executive Management Maiden Interaction with Commission’s Contractors, Service Partners, MD Pays Tribute to Departed Contractors