...Delta highest revenue earner, but poorest among comity of progressive states
...Debt incurred for Okowa failed VP project, Oborevwori's guber election - APC alleges
By Ovasa Ogaga,
The Delta State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has strongly criticized the recent claims by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori's administration, which asserted that the state's debt had been reduced by over 40% in the past year. The APC described these claims as misleading and intended to deceive the people of Delta State.
During a radio program in Lagos, Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe, the Executive Assistant to Governor Oborevwori on Communications, claimed that the governor had reduced the state's debt by more than N180 billion and saved over N205 billion through prudent management.
In response, Barr. Valentine Onojeghuo, the State Publicity Secretary of the APC, denounced these statements as "a pack of lies" meant to placate Deltans who are increasingly concerned about the state's financial situation. Onojeghuo argued that despite Delta being one of the highest revenue earners in Nigeria, it remains one of the poorest states due to mismanagement by the current and previous administrations.
Onojeghuo further alleged that the debts being repaid by the government were incurred for the failed vice-presidential ambitions of former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and to finance Oborevwori's gubernatorial election. He criticized the administration for not disclosing what the borrowed funds were used for and accused it of sinking the state into deeper poverty and infrastructure decay.
The APC spokesperson urged Governor Oborevwori to clarify how the debts were used and called his claims of prudent management "the most shameful lie ever peddled." He also highlighted the state's poor standing despite receiving significant federal allocations and internally generated revenue, attributing this to years of alleged misrule by the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
The statement reads: DELTA STATE: A TALE OF MISGOVERNANCE AND DECEIT:
"There is no denying the fact that the leadership of Delta State under Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori administration has sunk to unprecedented depths of misgovernance and hardship. The State now ranks as one of the worst states in the country with a palpable miasma of despair that has completely enveloped the State as all the governor does is going to the office and asking those who are fortunate to visit for one favour or the other, 'Do you know that I am the governor? as if anyone is still struggling the office with him since January 19th this year when the Supreme Court pronounced him governor.
The State has never had it so bad since its creation in 1991. The governor has no clue or vision -he is directionless to say the least. The dubious claims of the Delta State government and its officials that Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori's administration has reduced the debt profile of the State from over 500 billion to about 370 billion as a laudable achievement is the most shameful lie ever paddled by any stretch of imagination.
It is not a secret that Delta State is one of the states with the highest FAAC allocations and IGR, but with nothing meaningful to show for it in the last 20 years of PDP misrule. In the first place, the State got to this unenviable position of being the most heavily indebted state during the administration of Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, the grandfather of the 'prosperity for all' deception, where billions of naira were collected in dubious loans approved by the State House of Assembly under Sheriff Oborevwori as speaker.
This ugly trend continued up to the very last days of the Okowa government and the majority of these questionable loans were borrowed from a bank he is alleged to have vested interests. And there is no indication that the State benefited anything from this colossal amount that was borrowed as most of these monies were spent on his failed presidential ambition, while the rest went into installing Sheriff Oborevwori as his successor.
Secondly, the truth behind the State's debt reduction claims by officials of the State government is that over half of federal revenue accruals to the State is being debited at source in strict compliance with irrevocable standing payment order already issued by the State government and used to service these debts that were piled up by both Okowa and Oborevwori, leaving the State with no funds to execute capital projects.
Delta State is now one of the poorest states in terms of capital projects development and Deltans have watched with a deep sense of consternation, the feeble attempt by the hirelings of the State government to push this false narrative of debt reduction through prudent management.
Regrettably, the only project you can point to that is ongoing in the entire Delta State is the Effurun and Enerhen flyover projects, with absolutely no other significant projects being undertaken by the State government any where else.
Furthermore, you may also recall that even the back log of the 13% Derivation funds that former President Muhammadu Buhari paid the Okowa government that ran into billions vanished into thin air with nothing to show it. Whereas, in contrast, Nyesom Wike the former governor of Rivers State, used his own to construct over six flyovers projects
A cursory survey of the length and breath of Delta State, will reveal that the State's infrastructure is in shambles with decrepit roads spread across the State that are now death traps and hot spots for kidnappers. In fact, the State is now the headquarters of kidnappings. Just a week ago, a former commissioner in the State was brutally kidnapped from her office in Asaba that led to the death of some persons.
The mis governance and deceit of the administration of Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori has led to humanitarian crisis that has compounded the pathetic plight of pensioners across the State who are still owed billions in arrears with so many of them dying in penury and abject poverty without any payment of their retirement gratuities.
The insensitivity of this administration is so mind boggling and without a humane face. No action has been taken by the State government to bring relief and succour to the people of the State in this harsh economic situation that we find ourselves. The State government only engages in propaganda economics in order to hoodwink the people of the State into thinking that they are working. It is time for the governor to take responsibility and act."
