Local contractors give Minister, NDDC five day ultimatum to pay N2trn debt or face mass protest

Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC local contractors have given the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio and the NNDC Management a five- day ultimatum to pay off the over two trillion naira debt owed them. The contractors said they are being owed over N2 trillion, date back eight years.  According to the Contractors who have over one thousand members have vowed that at the expiration of the deadline for the payment next week Tuesday, 15th February and they are not paid their money, they would organise  protest simultaneously across the nine States of the Niger Delta region and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The contractors and other stakeholders also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on NDDC management to pay for services rendered creditably, just as they  decried the situation where they will borrow money from the bank to execute projects and yet will be still be owed for five years.

Briefing Journalists in Abuja, Spokesman, Niger Delta Indigenous Contractors Association and Stakeholders, Chief Dressman Darlinton-Gbolobofa who noted that  they are all in pains, said that they have written to the president, the security agencies, the National Security Adviser, NSA, Chief of Staff to the president and other relevant authorities to mediate in the matter before it gets out of hand. The Spokesperson who warned that  if nothing is done after 15th of February, 2022, they will return to the street across the nine States. He stressed that suspending the Wednesday’s protest is not a sign of nativity, said that   while announcing the temporary suspension of the protest at the NDDC gate, said, “That the Association will protest simultaneously across the nine States of the Niger Delta region and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) should the Interim Administrator of the NDDC, Mr Akwa Effiong  and the Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio fail to meet our demand to pay Contractors by Tuesday 15th February, 2022.”

The  contractors have also urged the president and other leaders of the Niger Delta region to call on the Interim Administrator of the NDDC, Mr. Akwa Effiong to desist from using hoodlums, miscreants and thugs to intimidate, harass and assault Contractors who are protesting for their payments. The statement reads, “Due to intervention by some critical stakeholders from various sectors, the protesting Contractors and Consultants of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) have decided to suspend the protest at the NDDC gate temporarily. The Niger Delta Indigenous Contractors Association is also calling on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General Muhammad Buhari, GCFR and other relevant authorities and leaders of the Niger Delta region to call on the Interim Administrator of the NDDC, Mr. Akwa Effiong to desist from using hoodlums, miscreants and thugs to intimidate, harass and assault Contractors who are protesting for their payments. 

“The Niger Delta Indigenous Contractors will continue to request the NDDC to pay for services rendered creditably as competent and performing Contractors of the NDDC, while frowning at situation where Contractors will not be mobilized by the NDDC to execute projects, a situation where the Contractors will borrow money from banks at high interest rates to execute projects yet will be owed for five years and more without payment. The Niger Delta Contractors are in pains and describe the activities of the Interim Administrator of the NDDC, Akwa Effiong and the Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio as discouraging, devilish and an act of wickedness, noting that their action does not represent what Mr President stands for. It is very sad that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) under the watch of Mr Akwa Effiong and the Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio have turned to Akwa Ibom Nigeria Limited thereby subjecting other parts of the region and Contractors to acute penury and poverty. 

“The Spokesman, Niger Delta Indigenous Contractors  Association, chief Dressman Darlinton warned that the Association protest simultaneously across the nine States of the Niger Delta region and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) should the Interim Administrator of the NDDC, Mr Akwa Effiong  and the Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio fail to meet our demand to pay Contractors by Tuesday 15th February, 2022. The Niger Delta Indigenous Contractors Association is also calling on Mr President to please consider the request of the Olu of Warri and other prominent Niger Delta Stakeholders to as matter of urgency constitute and inaugurate a substantive board of the NDDC.”