*Holds talks with South Koreans
The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has declared its willingness to explore new funding patterns to boost the capacity of the interventionist agency to tackle the development challenges of the Niger Delta region.
The Managing Director of the Commission, Mr. Nsima Ekere, said this when a delegation from a South Korean firm paid him a courtesy visit at the Commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
He reaffirmed the Commission’s resolve to do things differently in its drive to fast track the development of Nigeria’s oil-rich region. He told the South Korean delegation: “What you are offering is slightly different from what we are used to but we are ready to explore the opportunities in the new area.”
Mr. Ekere thanked leaders of the Korean firm for showing interest in Nigeria and the Niger Delta, noting that the oil-producing region was in dire need of world class infrastructure. He added: “Building infrastructure is an expensive venture and our access to fund is limited. Yet, we need funds to move faster. We are interested in working with you to provide the financing needed for our projects.”
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer said that both the Commission’s Executive Director Finance and Administration, Mr. Mene Derek, and the Executive Director Projects, Engr. Samuel Adjogbe, would interface with the Korean company to work out the details of a mutually beneficial relationship.
He told his visitors: “We have no problem with the structure that you propose. We will sit down with you to work out the details.”
The leader of the delegation and Chairman of Kunwon International Construction Company Ltd in Nigeria, Chief Chris Anyiam, said that they were interested in bringing international funding to ensure that NDDC projects were executed promptly and at record time.
According to him, “The current NDDC board is blessed that we are bringing a new team that will bring their funds to develop the Niger Delta,” adding that “Nigeria should be beyond where it is today.”
Chief Anyiam noted that South Korea possessed the technology and resources to help in developing the Niger Delta. “They are willing to bring in the funds and we are interested in bringing positive change to the region,” he said.
In his own remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of the South Korea construction company, Mr. Chris Kim, stated that as a global player, his firm was adept in project financing. He declared: “We have a functional structure for putting funds together for projects. We need concrete projects and cash flow analysis to be able to access the funds at our disposal. We only need to be given an opportunity to prove our mettle as we already have a financing structure in place.”
He assured that his firm had the capacity and a special technology that would help to execute projects faster.