N1trn needed to complete ongoing projects in Niger Delta— Usani

The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani, has revealed that the ministry would require N1 trillion to enable it complete all ongoing and abandoned projects across the region.

Vanguard reports that Pastor Usani, in his maiden press briefing in Abuja, said that the ministry was determined to complete all projects awarded by the previous administration but abandoned in order for them to become beneficial to the people of the area.

The minister warned that a situation where over N400 billion was spent on projects awarded by the ministry since inception with only 12 percent execution would no longer be tolerated, adding, “This administration will hold contractors responsible to ensure that all projects initiated in the region are not abandoned.”

He lamented that most of the contractors, sons of the soil, would pick project money and disappear with it thereby resulting in an avalanche of projects abandonment, hence depriving the people who are supposed to use them.

Explaining how the ministry under him inherited outstanding liabilities of N34 billion on projects implemented as at last year, he noted that payment to contractors for any certificate for project execution would be strictly determined by the use of the audit report of the ministry.

According to him, “It is difficult to say the exact amount required for project execution because the introduction of projects into our implementation plan is of course sacrosanct, knowing that even training of youths and vocational training are all projects. “Besides, it is useful to know that on a daily basis, as payments are being made. We are equally accessing the balance of accounts on the projects. But one thing I know is that, as at the end of last year, the ministry had outstanding liabilities on projects of more than N34 billion.”

Source: Vanguard