From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
GOVERNOR Rochas Okorocha has accused the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) of fraudulently shortchanging Imo State.
He stated this yesterday when the new Managing Director of the Commission, Mrs. Ibim Sememitari, who was in the state on a two-day working visit, paid him a courtesy call, lamenting that several billions of naira had been expended on 272 phantom projects in the state.
The governor regretted that the commission which was established to serve member states had been turned into an ATM for some PDP parliamentarians and bigwigs from the state.
His words, “I am shocked to hear that the NDDC has over 272 projects in the state for which billions of naira were also said to have been spent on. I would like to have the list of the projects, the contractors handling them and where they are sited because Imo people would also be shocked to hear this. Let us know the projects, their sites and the amounts paid on each of them.”
He continued, “The truth is that these projects could exist only on papers because the popular impression here is that the NDDC abandoned the state and her people, while releasing money meant for projects in the state to some PDP elements from the state in Abuja.”