The Senate on Thursday approved the sum of N299.5 billion as 2015 Budget for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Approval was given after the Senate considered the report of its committee on NDDC presented by Senator James Manager.
In his presentation of the committee report, Senator Manager told the lawmakers that the committee consider the proposal of the commission and noted that the non-project content was about N28.4 billion representing about 9.5% of the total budget against that of 2014 which was 8.43%
He added that the projects development expenditure as proposed by the commission was N271.09 which is 90.5% of the total budget against 91.46% in 2014.
The lawmaker said the committee found it necessary to separate the capital budget meant for use internally by the commission from the capital budget meant for project development.
In his contribution, Senator Gorge Sekibo commended the current board members of the commission. He noted that the commission doesn’t normally get all the funds that are allocated to them, adding that about N750 million that was approved in previous budget has not been released.
The Deputy Senate President Senator Ike Ekweremadu who presided over the sitting commended the lawmakers for approving the budget and urged members of Senate committee on NDDC to ensure full implementation of the budget for the benefit of the people from the area
