Yemi Osinbajo, acting President, was emphatic Tuesday that some of the projects initiated by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, for the region in the past years were not designed to succeed. This is because the projects were deliberately meant to enrich some individuals.
A statement by Laolu Akande, senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Osinbajo, said the acting President spoke while receiving a delegation from Bayelsa State regarding the $3.6 billion Brass Fertilizer and Petro-Chemical Company that is expected to come on stream soon.
Seriake Dickson, governor of Bayelsa State, led the delegation, which included executive members of the company.
Osinbajo lamented that only 12 per cent completion rate was recorded in several of the projects undertaken by the NDDC in the past years, while the rest were abandoned. “Sometimes, projects are designed not to succeed, but just for some people to make money,” Osinbajo noted.
He, however, said the present administration was promoting a new way of thinking and engagement that would secure the development of the region and the entire country. The new approach, which he described as the new vision, according to him, involves an active and effective collaboration between the government, the private sector and the communities.
The acting President commended the collaboration that was ongoing regarding the Brass company, saying, “this is what we describe as the new vision: partnership between the Federal Government, the states, the communities and the private sector. This is the new way of thinking that is emerging, the new vision.”
Ibe Kachikwu, minister of State for Petroleum Resources, described the idea of the Brass Fertilizer and Petro-Chemical firm as “a game changer that we need to encourage.” He said such ideas had the potential to change the economic model in the Niger Delta.
Dickson said the project was aimed at building a petrochemical plant that would produce ammonia and convert that to 1.3 million tonnes of urea per annum. According to him, the company would also produce methanol for industrial purposes, which would also yield about 1.7 million tonnes per annum.
Bayelsa State has a 10 per cent equity in the project, while the remaining 90 per cent is held by investors from different countries.
Dickdon is confident that the project would create jobs and transform the economy of the state. “We came to discuss issues on the Brass Fertilizer Project billed to take off in Bayelsa. That is a big ticket investment running into billions of dollars. She government team is here, the traditional ruler is here because the project is taking place in his domain. We are here to assure the Federal Government that Bayelsa is safe,” Dickson told journalists.