Contractors to Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, under the auspices of DESOPADEC Indigenous Contractors and Stakeholders Forum, DICSF, have begun protest in Warri, accusing the Chairman of DESOPADEC, Michael Diden (a.k.a Ejele) of deceit over non-payment of monies owed them for jobs executed with verified payments’ certificate .
They also accused the Chairman of refusal to include them in DESOPADEC monthly/routine payments, in line with the existing payments structure in the Commission The Trumpet gathered.
The protesting contractors carried placards with inscriptions such as “pay us our monies oooo” and “contractors are dying, please pay us”.
The Chairman of DESOPADEC Indigenous Contractors and Stakeholders Forum, DICSF, Mr. Fidelis Ete Orugboh, who led the aggrieved contractors on the protest at the entrance of the Commission’s Secretariat in Warri, Delta State, told newsmen that Michael Diden, the Chairman and the Managing Director, Bashorun Askia Ogieh as well as other Board members of the Commission, have refused to pay them their money, despite all entreaties to that effect.
Mr. Orugboh, recalled how Diden had on Sunday November 28, 2021, promised to personally hand over the contractors’ demands to Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa and set up a tripartite meeting between them (the contractors) the Managing Director of DESOPADEC, Bashorun Askia Ogieh and himself (Hon. Diden) during a meeting held in Sapele, Delta State, but did not keep his words.
He claimed that “They have paid themselves more than eleven times without paying contractors. No new contract is being awarded to us, they award fresh contracts to themselves. We own this Commission, yet we are not benefiting from it anymore. We went to the Police and we were at AIG’s office yesterday, advising us to calm down.
‘’We got information from a reliable source in Abuja that in the year 2021 alone, the derivation money that came to Delta state, was one hundred and forty seven billion naira (N147,000,000,000). They will owe contractors N100miliion and pay a paltry N250,000.00 from it. There is money to pay yet they are not willing to give pay us.
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They can’t use COVID-19 as an excuse. How can you issue contract to somebody for the past 10years and refuse to do revalidation? Most of us took loans from the bank. They seized somebody’s dead body, who was one of us, and has not been released.” he lamented .
Another aggrieved contractor, who addressed the media, Engr. Eric Kiap of Kiady Global Resources, said “I did a jetty walkway in Usor Community, a contract awarded to me since 2017 and DESOPADEC is owing me a balance of fifty two million Naira . I borrowed money from Zenith Bank, all efforts to recover my money have failed , he complained.
