The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has dismissed the claims it has N1.9 trillion as 2025 budgetary provision in its coffers.

The Managing Director Samuel Ogbuku made the denial in Asaba yesterday during the activities marking the 25th anniversary of commission.

He said although the implementation process of the allocation to the commission is on, they did not take the loan it initially permutated.

He said the management earlier contemplated taking loans in the region of N900 billion to N1 trillion to fund the some abandoned and newly awarded projects but shelved the idea after much deliberations.

Ogbuku said, “We decided to use the excess of the money that accrued to the commission from the Federal Government to run our commitments.

“We dropped the loan taking and moved for increment of our allocation from the Federal Government. “We don’t want to go into the complications surrounding some abandoned projects.

“So, let people not think that we have N1.9trn in our pocket.” He maintained that the commission has built schools, jetties, constructed roads, completed the abandoned electricity project that threw the entire Ondo South Senatorial District into darkness for years and awarded local and foreign scholarships to Niger Deltans.