AKURE- The NDDC has approved five major projects for execution in the oil producing areas of Ondo State at a cost of about N10 billion in 2008.

Dr Ibukun Omotehinse, the Commissioner representing the state in the NDDC board, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Akure at the weekend.

He said the board had invited consultants and that contractors were already showing interests in the projects.

Omotehinse said 10 projects were initially lined up for execution in the state, but that the number was pruned down by the National Assembly.

According to him, the five projects approved for Ondo State include the 60 km Ugbo-Oghoye coastal road, which is part of the coastal road to link Lagos and all the oil producing communities in the coastal area.

He said: “It is one of the principal components of the Niger Delta development plans.
“It is when scooping is completed that we can know the actual kilometres and the actual amount of money it will gulp, but I know that it will cost nothing less than N50 billion.’’
Omotehinse said Agadagba-Obon-Arogbo road and bridges had also been approved by NDDC board for construction this year.

He said that N750 million had been set aside for the construction of hostels in the state University of Technology at Okitipupa.

Omotehinse said that when completed, the hostel would accommodate 400 students.
He said NDDC would also build a model secondary school at Igbokoda this year and that the board had already approved a model school for each of the nine oil producing states.
The commissioner said the projects would be executed in phases, based on the availability of funds.

Dr Ibukun Omotehinse, the commissioner representing Ondo State in the board of the NDDC, has said that the people of Ijaw-Arogbo in Ondo State are not marginalised in the distribution of social amenities.

Omotehinse told newsmen in Akure that the complaints by the Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) that Ijaw people were neglected was untrue.

He explained that NDDC was executing water and health projects valued at more than N300 million in some towns belonging to the Ijaws in the state apart from those that had been completed.

The commissioner said: “In Arogbo town, a solar borehole constructed at a cost of N100m had been completed. We are only working on its reticulation.’’

Omotehinse said that other town, which enjoyed similar projects were Adelesema and Apata-Ijaw, where NDDC was working on the construction of their overhead tanks and reticulation of water.

According to the commissioner, schools and health centres are being built at Bolowo, Zion, Opuba and in many places at Arogbo Ijaw.

He said that these projects were part of the NDDC determination to ensure equity and justice in the distribution of social amenities.

Omotehinse urged MEND and other militant groups in the region to support the federal and state governments in providing necessary infrastructure that would give fillip to the socio-economic development of the region.

He said: “The construction of coastal roads that will link all the coastal towns in the country will expose the people of the region to the outside world and have positive impact of their activities.