Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has set in motion a 10-year plan to pay over N1 trillion debt owed to contractors in the Niger Delta region.

The commission said it has set aside N100 billion from the 2023 budget, which is yet to be passed into law by the National Assembly to offset some of the debts owed by the commission.

NDDC managing director, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, disclosed this to journalists at the commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

Ogbuku said, “Some of the debts have been owed since 2007. Some of them are over 15 years. We are looking at creating the platform where maybe in the next 10 years, all the outstanding debts should be paid.

“So, if people have been owed for 15, 16, 17 years where there was no process, because anything we are doing is part of the corporate governance structure. Even a partnership you want to go into, people want to see how your debt is being structured.
“We are structuring the payment of our debts because if it is open ended, that means you don’t have any structure paying those debts.

If it is not structured, anybody that come here and say I am not paying old debts.”

He stated that the NDDC was partnering with some individuals in the region, to establish the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce, in order to strengthen its support for entrepreneurs in the region.

The NDDC boss said, “We are partnering with some individuals in the region to set up the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce.

“The chamber of commerce is to ensure that entrepreneurs in the region, that we want to engage and support, come under one umbrella,” he said.