Ben Agande
7 August 2008
On a day the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a N314.32 million contract for the building of an office complex to house the proposed databank of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), the Vice president, Goodluck Jonathan has denied media reports that he had indicted the governors of the Niger delta states as well as the Niger Delta Development Commission for not being accountable to the people of the region.
Addressing state house correspondents after yesterday's meeting, the minister of Information and Communications, Mr. John Odey, said the contract was to ensure that Nigeria engiuneers gain the require competence to meet the country's space technology needs.
He said the money for the construction of the building which would be the first part of the contract was captured in this year's budget while fund for the data bank would be included in the 2009 budget.
Council also approved the contract for the construction of a senate and administration complex at the University of Calabar at the cost of N286.5million.
Meanwhile in a statement in Abuja yesterday, the senior special assistant to the Vice President Goodluck Jonathan on Meida and Communications, Mr. Ima Niboro yesterday dismissed a newspaper report linking the vice president to a document which 'sought to whittle down the Niger Delta and NDDC powers to disburse funds and make them more accountable to the people of the region'.
Mr. Niboro said the office of the vice president "take strong exception to the import of the remarks in the story which seem to suggest that the Vice President indicted the governors and the NDDC for being 'not accountable' to the people", said a statement issued by Jonathan's media assistant, Ima Niboro.
According to the vice president's spokesman, having been a governor before, the vice president knows that 'the governors are accountable to the people through the state legislatures and actually knows where the shoe pinches.'
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