The National Assembly is under pressure to pass the 2023 Budget of the Niger Delta Development Commission so that it can be used by the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government to fund the 2023 elections.
The allegation was levelled on by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, when media houses delegations visited him.
Wike, who spoke on Monday at the Government House in Port Harcourt, said the N500 billion budget proposal of the NDDC was a fraud, querying the importance of some of its provisions.
He said it was outrageous for the NDDC to propose N4 billion for the desilting of drainages and another N60 billion for security agencies.
Wike, who spoke when the media houses visited him to present letters of nomination as the Leadership Politician of the Year 2022 and Sun Courage in Leadership Award 2022, wondered why a commission that “has not completed one road in one year”, despite being established to develop key infrastructures in the Niger Delta region, is allocating such an amount of money to clean drainages and build structures for security agencies.
He also queried the relevance of the Niger Delta Ministry, which was created in 2008 to coordinate efforts to tackle the changes in infrastructure development, environmental protection and youth empowerment in the Niger Delta.
He says all that the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs does is supervise the activities of the NDDC, a situation he says further puts pressure on the commission.