Minister Dares Militants On Contract Deals

Minister Dares Militants On Contract Deals

MINISTER of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Ufot Ekaette, has taken on militants in the oil and gas region who are pressing for his sack over alleged duplication of contracts, to come up with evidence to substaciate their claims or remain silence forever.

The minister who spoke on phone through his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Soni Daniel, said it was unfair for any group or individual to make a wild cat allegation against public officers without tangible evidence.

AkanimoReports quotes the minister's spokesperson as saying, ''we are challenging all those making these wild cat allegations to come in the open with their facts and stop hiding under a mask. If they fail to do so, let them remain silent for ever, and stop throwing stones at a man who rose to his present position through hard work and honesty''.

The Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC), an insurgent network, has been pressing for the immediate removal of Mr. Ekaette as the minister of Niger Delta and the termination of all alleged duplicated projects of the ministry.

Spokesperson of the militants, Cynthia Whyte, alleged, ''Ekaette is incompetent and unqualified to lead a ministry as sensitive as the Ministry of Niger Delta. His intentions are ungodly, his visions are clouded and his ability to deliver on assigned objectives is questionable''.

''Such incompetence'', they went on, ''is capable is capable of derailing the campaign for a better and more prosperous Niger Delta. Yar' adua's biggest mistake was Ufot Ekaette. His second was Godwin Abbe as the Chairman of the Amnesty Committee. Little wonder, months after, there has been nothing to show. Shameful''.

They claimed in an on-line statement that their demand was driven by reports from various groups in the oil region about alleged dubious and treacherous duplication of projects across the length and breadth of the Niger Delta by officials of the Ministry of Niger Delta in active connivance with the minister.

''Many of the ministry’s planned projects that have already been rolled out by either some of the various states of the Niger Delta or the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). What this means is that the ministry did not harmonize its objectives before going ahead to plan on the projects.

''Some of these projects include the Ekeremor-Agge road in Bayelsa State. Another is the Niger Delta coastal road which is supposed to link up key coastal communities in the Niger Delta'', the JRC claimed.

Continuing, they said years ago, the NDDC awarded the contract for the design of the Niger Delta Coastal road project, claiming that years after, the Ministry of Niger Delta is about to re-award another contract for the same project, and accordingly querried, ''who is fooling who?''

Adding, they said, ''this blatant attempt at project duplicating is a plot by a dubious cabal to extinguish funds meant for the development of the Niger Delta because the deadline for the use of funds for government parastatals is set for March. Clearly, they do not want to refund money to the federal purse.

T''he cost of these project duplication runs into large tens of billions of naira.

''We condemn this attempt to shortchange, hoodwink and undermine the people of the Niger Delta and demand that the recently convened Presidential Project Monitoring and assessment team immediately investigate these and other cases of project duplication which have been severally reported by various groups across the Niger Delta.

''We also demand that all such contracts be terminated immediately and funds budgeted for them be channeled to more useful projects that would impact on the people of the Niger Delta.''

In the mean time, Mr. Daniel says the ministry will soon come out with a formal response ''to the unwholesome game of some faceless elements working for some unknown paymaster''.

Continuing, the minister's spokesperson said, it is very clear to us that those who want Mr. Ekaette removed do not know anything about due process in contract awards. We are yet to see any evidence that the NDDC or any of the nine oil-producing states had previously awarded contracts for the projects we are executing. If there are such evidence, we will like NDDC and the states to come up with them''.

ENDS

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