Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
Minister of State for Niger/Delta Development, Senator Tayo Alasoadura has said that the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration is poised to reorganize the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to ensure that the commission fufil its set objectives.
He said the crisis rocking the NDDC was as a result of corrupt acts perpetrated by some top officials of the commission in the past, stressing that the present administration would sanitize the commission in order to achieve its set goals.
Alasoadura who spoke with newsmen in Akure, the Ondo State capital yesterday disclosed that the present administration was determined to develop the Niger/Delta region.
He said the present administration has committed huge sum of money to the development of the Niger/Delta region, adding that it construction of roads in the region costs more than any other part of the country
because of its coastal nature.
He denied insinuations that he lobbied some people in the presidency before he was offered the ministerial appointment, saying that “I never lobbied for the appointment. In fact, I was surprised the day a senator called me that my name appeared on the ministerial list.”
“I had concluded to return into my private business and the day I opened my private office in Abuja thinking that it was time for me to settle down and enjoy my private life was the day a friend in the senate called me that my name appeared on the list of ministerial nominees,” he stated.
On the next year’s governorship election in Ondo State, he hinted that efforts are on to unite all members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to ensure that the party goes to the election united.
He said arrangements have been concluded by members of APC from the state who are in the National Assembly and others occupying various positions at the national level to meet regularly on how to reunite the party.
He warned members of the party against acts that could diminish the party ahead of the next year’s governorship poll in the state.