Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, yesterday, said that the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, is now a cash cow for politicians in the country.

This came as President Mohammadu Buhari commissioned the NDDC office and residential complex for the Special Protection Unit, SPU, of the Nigeria Police Force, in Omagwa, Ikwerre LGA of the state, 10 years after it was abandoned.

The building consist of an administrative block, an armoury, gate house, underground cell, and 66 units of accommodation made up of the commander’s residence, second-in-command’s residence, and 64 one-bedroom flats.

Wike during the commissioning of the Police Barracks SPU at Omagwa in Ikwerre LGA, said: “NDDC has been a cash cow for politicians. You will see competition over who will be the Managing Director, Executive Director (Finance), Executive Director (Projects).

These are people who will make sure money is available for politics. You have portfolio contractors from Abuja. Every now and then, the Managing Director will be running to Abuja.”

According to Wike, the problem of the NDDC was not just the Niger Delta region but entire Nigeria.

Making reference to the promise by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio that the NDDC would change to meet the aspirations of the people of the region, Wike said it is time for the commission to work.

The governor also took a swipe at some lawmakers in the National Assembly who lobby for which projects to be included in the NDDC budget.

Speaking further, he noted, “I took NDDC to court, and we defeated them. You enter somebody’s state, you don’t even know the development plan of the state and start distorting the development plan of the state.

“The road you want to do is not your road. You won’t liaise with the state to say ‘look what project do you want in this state?

If you ask all the nine states in the Niger Delta and say State A, what kind of project do you want NDDC to execute? We are not interested in who will be the contractor. Our interest is that we are synergising with you so that you don’t repeat those things we are doing.”