By Ovasa Ogaga,
In a heated exchange of political rhetoric, the Delta State chapter of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) has lashed out at the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP), accusing the ruling party of perpetuating "barefaced lies" about its debt reduction management. This comes after what the APC termed as a "lackluster" response by the PDP to previous press statements regarding the state's fiscal policies.
The APC, through its State Publicity Secretary, Valentine Onojeghuo, drew a direct comparison between Delta's current financial situation and the alleged economic mismanagement during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan. The party emphasized that Nigeria's financial woes, from which it claimed the Buhari government struggled to recover, were rooted in the "financial recklessness" of the Jonathan era. The APC cited instances of unchecked government expenditures, particularly highlighting a steep decline in the Sovereign Wealth Fund and the loss of $20 billion from the NNPC, an issue raised by former CBN governor Muhammad Sanusi.
"Successive PDP administrations have driven Delta State into crippling debt," Onojeghuo stated, adding that under governors Ifeanyi Okowa and Sheriff Oborevwori, Delta borrowed over 200 billion naira, purportedly to address pension liabilities. However, the APC claimed that these funds had been mismanaged, leading to continued suffering for pensioners and little tangible development across the state.
The APC also pointed to Delta’s growing debt profile, alleging that despite receiving over 520 billion naira in the last year alone, the state government has failed to deliver critical infrastructure. According to the party, the only projects commissioned by Governor Oborevwori were initiated by his predecessor, with no significant new developments to show for the massive revenues.
Onojeghuo did not spare the state’s oil-producing areas either. He accused the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC) of becoming "moribund," focusing more on political patronage than delivering on its mandate to develop oil-rich communities. "Delta State has nothing but crumbling institutions and a proliferation of 'keke' tricycles to show for its wealth," he declared.
The APC concluded its statement by urging the people of Delta State to demand better governance and fiscal management, insisting that the time had come to end "bad governance" under the PDP and to bring in a new era of responsible leadership that would prioritize infrastructural growth and development.
This political confrontation marks a deepening of the rift between the two parties, as they continue to clash over the legacy of past administrations and the future direction of Delta State's governance.
“The Delta State chapter of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) lackluster response to our press statement on the dubious claims of the Delta State government debt reduction management, is tantamount to the proverbial saying, that a leopard does not change its spots, as it continues to spew out more barefaced lies in its desperate effort to divert the attention of the people of the State of how successive PDP administrations have plunged the State into the abyss of crippling debts.
“If fingers are to be pointed, then a simple trip down memory lane is needed as it was the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan that is single handedly responsible for the calamitous state of the Nigerian economy from which the Buhari government tragically was unable to wriggle out of as a result of widespread financial recklessness carried out by the Jonathan government in a scale never before seen in the history of this country.
“The Delta State PDP State Secretary, Engr. Dan Ossai, rather than admitting and accepting responsibility of how his Party had pushed the economy of Nigeria and invariably, that of Delta State, to the precipice of destruction prior to the advent of the Buhari government, has chosen to play the ostrich by burying his head in the sand to escape the bitter truth of how the economy was savagely ravaged by years of monumental misrule.
“As the President Goodluck Jonathan's administration came to an ignominious end in 2015, it was glaringly clear to Nigerians that the economy was in tatters and in need of divine resuscitation to be able to come out of the Venezuelan and Zimbabwean quagmires in which it found itself.
“In 2010, when Goodluck Jonathan assumed the mantle of the presidency leadership following the untimely demise of the late President Musa Yar'Adua, the economy was witnessing an oil boom due to rising prices. But despite numerous alarms being sounded by the likes of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was the Minister of Finance and the coordinating minister for the Economy, the Jonathan administration plundered the over 20 billion dollars in the Sovereign Wealth Fund that was supposed to cushion the effects of any global economic meltdown, to a meagre 2 billion dollar within the first 2 years of the administration.
“According to Okonjo-Iweala, the Jonathan administration was unable to exercise control over its expenditures by maintaining sound fiscal responsibility which would have allow the government to have sufficient funds for the development of critical sectors of the economy that drives sustainable growth in years to come.
In her own words, "Every month, we have been dipping our hands and sharing it, instead of moving that money into the Sovereign Wealth Account, because the governors say it is illegal. We have shared until it is at the rock bottom. Should the oil prices crash today, what it means is that we have no cushion, because $3.6 billion for this economy is nothing that can take us for any length of time",
“The prophesied crash came as oil prices went tumbling and the world economy spiralled out of control. The Buhari government that unfortunately took over, battled unsuccessfully to meander the economy out of the rabbit hole into the Jonathan administration sent it.
“Undeniably, former president Goodluck Jonathan oversaw one of the worst eras of state kleptocracy that reached staggering proportions with severe consequences for the economy of this nation. This was the period when the purchase of private jets became a fashionable trend amongst elites with unrestricted access to dip their sleek fingers into our national treasury for personal aggrandizement.
“While the nation was yet to recover from the warnings of the Okonjo-Iweala, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Muhammad Lamido Sanusi 11, now the Emir of Kano, wrote a scathing letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, that 20 billion dollars is 'missing' from NNPC and for his effrontery, he was given the boot out of the door.
“Even though Nigerians have been accused of suffering from selective amnesia, we cannot forget the missing 6 billion dollars that was meant for power generation under the Obasanjo's government that vanished into thin air. What about the Dasuki saga when for the first time, billions of dollars were directly withdrawn in raw cash from the vaults of the Central Bank to prosecute Jonathan's failed reelection bid. These are painful instances of how successive PDP administrations drove the Nigerian economy into intractable insolvency. Yet the State Secretary of Delta State PDP, Engr. Dan Ossai, is busy pointing accusing fingers at the APC led government.
“Just recently, it was revealed that the Nigerian government is still servicing 69 loans taken by the administrations of Obasanjo, Yar'Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, with billions of dollars that ordinarily would have been directed to more profitable investments that would generate employment for millions of Nigerians, who are now languishing in the throes of grinding poverty.
“Shockingly, in a macabre dance of the absurd, rather than be remorseful of how Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori and his predecessors have systematically impoverished and underdeveloped Delta State through years of excessive wasteful mismanagement of our common patrimony, he decided to descend to new levels of blatant falsehoods by claiming that Lagos State, an APC State, has the highest debt profile in the Country.
“What he stylishly failed to mention is that, while Lagos State has abundant capital infrastructural developments as blue rail intercity transport system and state of the art medical facilities amongst others, as a reflection of its indebtedness, Delta State that is hotly pursuing Lagos State as the second most indebted State, has nothing other than the millions of 'keke' tricycles, crumbling medical centers and institutions to show for its huge debt, despite the astronomical revenues that have accrued to the State over the years. The State is now regarded as the 'keke' capital of Nigeria.
“It was therefore hilarious disappointing to see Gov sheriff Oborevwori lamenting on national television that the Niger Delta Development Commission has so many abandoned projects in the State, whereas the State owned interventionist agency, the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC) that was established to manage the 13% Derivation funds, has become moribund and no longer execute any projects, but pay salaries to staff, majority of whom have been posted to dilapidated schools that are scattered all over the State to teach.
“In Delta State, most agencies like DESOPADEC, established by the State government are more or less avenues for settling acolytes and cronies of the governor with political appointments and patronage rather than carrying out the objectives for which it was up in the first place. Of what benefits have these agencies been to the people of Delta, apart from being unwanted burdens on resources of the State. The Delta State Capital Development Agency and the Warri/Uvwie and Environs Special Area Development Agency are all but in name. Asaba remains a glorified town not worthy of a State Capital, continuously plagued by floods, while Warri and Effurun have degenerated to decadent shanties which are now grim reminders of the wastage of our oil resources by PDP led administrations with reckless abandon.
“Deltans have grown weary of the endless gabbage of lies churned out by the State government to explain why billions of oil revenues are being recklessly fritted away by the irresponsible government of Sheriff Oborevwori and his predecessors, without an iota of accountability to the people of the State. Aside the 5-billion-naira subsidy removal payments, recent revelation showed that the Governor Sheriff Oborevwori led administration of Delta state had received a staggering sum of 520 billion naira between May 2023 and June 2024 and has no tangible infrastructural developments to show for it.
“Since assuming office, Gov Sheriff Oborevwori has commissioned only two projects, the 5km Ibusa/Okpanam bypass road and the new judiciary complex started by his predecessor Okowa. What is happening in Delta State can be likened to the case of a man whose house was invaded by robbers, his food eaten and his wife raped and he is expected to clap for the perpetrators.
“Between Governors Okowa and Oborevwori, Delta State borrowed over a whooping 200 billion ostensibly to address payments of pensioners gratuities, yet we are still inundated with pathetic reports of pensioners dying on the streets without any penny paid to them. The former commissioner of finance under the Okowa government had the obnoxious task of explaining how 150 billion naira for pensioners went down the drain, with billions still owed to pensioners.
“The claims of Ossai, that Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori since assumption of office, has exhibited fiscal responsibility of the State resources, sounds very puerile as earlier this year, when the government is still owing pensioners billions of naira, it displayed gross insensitivity to the economic plight of Deltans through wasteful purchase of multi million naira operational vehicles for the use of national assembly caucus members. The question is, how does the purchase of these vehicles with tax payers monies contribute to the development of the State? The obvious answer to that question, is zero.
“For reminders, good governance is not about sharing and using the meagre resources of the State to purchase multi-million-naira operational vehicles for the national assembly caucus members, while the State is in dire need of critical financial intervention in so many sectors of its economy and infrastructures that are now decaying.
“Delta State is hemorrhaging terribly through fiscal mismanagement and irresponsibility of Gov Sheriff Oborevwori, but Engr Dan Ossai and his ilk are busy playing blame games with the lives of Deltans. Deltans indeed deserve MORE prudent financial management of our finances that will drive capital infrastructural growth and development, not the tall tales of unrepentant propagandists in the employment of the State government. It is time to end bad governance in Delta State.”
