By Charles Obi Odili
The Management of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, is compelled to alert members of the public, especially those in Bayelsa and Rivers states, of the activities of scammers offering non-existent Agricultural Cooperative loans.
We have received several reports from some victims in Bayelsa State who were deceived into believing that the NDDC was currently running an Agricultural Loan Scheme for which they are being asked to pay six thousand naira as processing fees for the loans.
These criminals, who claim to be representing officials of the Agriculture and Fisheries Directorate of the NDDC, go to the length of demanding signed blank cheques from their victims.
The scammers must have taken advantage of the promise made by the NDDC Acting Managing Director, Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei, to promote agriculture in the Niger Delta region.
The NDDC boss told Niger Delta youths, who paid a solidarity visit to the Interim Management Committee, IMC, at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt that the Commission was going to put more efforts to make sure that people who were going into agriculture were assisted and given the opportunity to succeed.
While the NDDC is still working out the details of the agricultural programme, scammers have gone to town to dupe some members of the public.
We advise those who have genuine businesses with the NDDC to always cross-check their information at the Commission’s official website and other social media handles.
We warn that anyone claiming to represent the NDDC or its Chief Executive Officer in non-existent programmes must be treated as a criminal and should be reported to security agencies for appropriate sanctions.
We assure members of the public that relevant security agencies are already investigating the activities of the criminals behind the fake loan offers.