The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is to receive $405.774 million from oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region this year.
This fact emerged yesterday during the presentation of NDDC’s 2008 budget to the National Assembly.
Of the amount, the NDCC will receive $229.980 million as the mandatory three per cent contribution, which is based on the total approved joint venture budget of $7.89 billion. The commission will also receive $179.794 million from the 15 companies that operate under production sharing contracts with the federal government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Managing Director of NDDC, Mr. Timi Alaibe, while presenting a budget of N79.404 billion for 2008 to the House Committee on the NDDC, said the budget would be 13.66 per cent higher than the N69.86 billion presented last year, if all the stakeholders meet their obligations.
The commission, he said, had proposed a capital expenditure of N71.74 billion against the sum of N61.38 billion for the preceding year and N51 billion for 2006.
“We will not spend beyond 10 per cent of the total budget. But the budget on personnel alone is N3 billion and a recurrent of N3.8 billion is envisaged as against the sum of N4.4 billion spent the previous year. Non capital expenditure is N1.41 billion,” he disclosed.
Alaibe further said: “We consulted widely with the Presidency and governors of the nine NDDC states before coming up with the budget. Though provisions have been made for ongoing projects, there are funds for the Master Plan to accelerate development in the Niger Delta region.”