The Commissioner representing Cross River on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Rt. Hon. Orok Duke condemned the commission’s exclusion of Cross River State in terms of project sharing and other benefits accruing to the region.
He promised to rectify this anomaly but said there was no provision in the NDDC’s founding law mandating the allocation of resources among member states in accordance with oil production quotas.
The NDDC Commissioner, who resumed work at the Cross River State Office yesterday, November 21, lamented the poor working conditions of the commission staff, saying that since #EndSars when the office was ransacked, employees have continuously worked in very difficult conditions.
Lamenting that Cross River has been continuously undervalued over the past 23 years, the former lawmaker added that the oil production quota was only considered a criterion in the appointment of the Commission’s Managing Director.
“There’s no mention of a production quota in the whole of the NDDC Act. None at all. There’s no sharing formula, the same way it is captured in the Northeast Development Commission.
When it comes to derivation, Cross River gets zero. Then they put money in the basket to go and develop the nine states of the Niger Delta, and you still come to give Cross River zero?
“Every month, 15 per cent of our budget is deducted; every month, 50 per cent of the ecological fund is deducted and paid to NDDC; and every month, 3 per cent of IOC money is deducted and sent to NDDC.
We have a situation where, if these monies were deducted and paid to Cross River, we would have more than N15 billion per year.
But by routing it through NDDC, we have less, and people think it’s normal, and it has been going on for 23 years.
Speaking further, Duke said that out of the over N900 billion that the Commission would have access to under the 2024 budget, only N15 billion was allocated to Cross River State.
“They should stop cheating in Cross River State. The same south-south people are subjugating the other state.
It is not acceptable. Out of N900 billion, they restrict us to N15 billion, and out of the N15 billion, they say we cannot spend more than N7 billion. What will N7 billion do for Cross River? Duke cried out.
He asserted that he has the support of the governor to ensure that the state gets what has been deluded by the commission without fear or favour.
He therefore directed the commission staff to work with him to demand a fair and equitable distribution of developmental projects to Cross River.
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