Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio has revealed that International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria owe the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) more than $4 billion.
The IOCs are required to provide 3% of their annual budgets to the commission as their statutory contribution to its funding, but according to Senator Akpabio, none of the IOCs has paid so far.
The Minister spoke during the weekly ministerial briefing organised by the Presidential Communication Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.
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“All the international oil companies owe and efforts are ongoing to recoup the money,” Akpabio said at the briefing but he did not immediately provide further details.
He also said the commission owes contractors about N3 trillion, noting however that not all contracts awarded with costs can be regarded as debt.
He stated that the over N600billion of emergency contracts that had been awarded had not been implemented and cannot, therefore, be regarded as NDDC debt.
