Delta state government has been accused of insincerity in handling the recent spate of bombings of oil and gas facilities by the rampaging Niger Delta Avengers (NDA).
A community leader in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, who gave the knockout verdict, said Governor Ifeanyi Okowa was just playing politics with the people because of security votes and expected revenue from the federation account.
Comrade Mulade spoke against the backdrop of the dialogue of the state government and stakeholders towards restoring peace in the state and Niger Delta is a political jamboree which held on Wednesday at Government House Annex, Warri.
The Niger Delta youth activist also accused Okowa’s administration of neglecting the core oil producing areas in the scheme of things and pointed to the recent commissioning of projects in the upland part of the state to mark his one year on the saddle of governance, stating that none was commissioned in the riverside communities.
Comrade Mulade who spoke on wide ranging issues, also condemned the recent advocacy visit embarked upon by the deputy governor, Barrister Kingsley Otuaro to the creeks, describing the visit as political jamboree with no concrete result to show for it.
He advised Governor Okowa to take a cue from the former governor of the state, Chief James Ibori, who personally visited the creeks in the heat of the inter-ethnic conflagration, where he engaged the critical stakeholders; a step he stressed ensured the cessation of hostilities from the warring parties.
His words: ‘’The Delta State Government has not been sincere with the people in the riverside communities as far as this crisis is concerned. The governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa is just playing to the gallery apparently because of security votes and the revenue from the federal purse.
‘’To mark his one year in office, he commissioned some projects in the upland part of the state, none in the areas that are producing the money he is using to prosecute these projects. We are completely neglected. We are not happy with the governor. Avengers and other miscreants are destroying pipelines and the environment and the government has shown no serious commitment towards addressing the fundamental issues, engaging critical stakeholders to find a way to arrest the dire situation. They are only bothered about the oil money and not interested in the development of the people.’’
Asked to comment on the recent advocacy visit by the deputy governor to the creeks, he said the tour was just to cajole the people as it did not yield any positive result as militants were still bombings pipelines.
‘’If the governor is sincere about addressing the crisis, he should personally lead the negotiation by visiting critical stakeholders and the communities to see things for himself. The level of hardship in the communities is unspeakable ‘’, he said.
He continued: ‘’He cannot continue to be engaging political stakeholders who are beneficiaries of the crisis and expect to achieve a lasting solution. It is amazing that the continued lack of sincerity to end the crisis is as a result of security votes. It is the poor citizens in the communities who bear the brunt’’.
Meanwhile, Gov. Okowa has said the impact of the renewed destruction of oil assets in the state producing environment has gone so bad that the state is now unable to pay salaries regularly anymore.
The governor, who spoke at the Government Office Annex, Warri, where he convened a stakeholders meeting on, “Creating A Peaceful Atmosphere for the Development of Delta State and the Niger Delta Region,” said: “The larger Nigerian government has been in financial crisis over dwindling oil prices. Increased production would have helped cushion the impact but instead we are faced with destruction of oil assets.
“Dealing with dwindling oil prices and destruction of oil assets, we are now producing just half of our quota. And we are all really worried because of the greater effect is on Delta State. Before now we receive up to N20 billion monthly, but what we have now is so low. Last time we got N3.4 billion. Last month what we received has dropped to N3 billion.
We now get 1/7th of what we use to have.” The governor said, going by the current financial position, the state was no longer in a position to pay salaries regularly just as Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, has also nosedived.
“We met a wage bill of N7.4 billion. Our workforce has been unchanged. With biometrics and rationalization, we trimmed that to about N6.8 billion. With the situation, we have in our hands, we are not in position to pay workers regularly anymore.
“If we produce our normal volumes, we won’t have it this bad. We have had to reduce support to the councils. And apart from poor income from Federation Account, IGR has also gone down because money is not circulating. “I do know that we were receiving reasonable Pay As You Earn, PAYE of up to N1.5bn and N1.6bn monthly. That has gone down. We should realise there’s a challenge. Political office holders, traditional rulers should build peace. Delta State has been on the news for the wrong reasons and that’s not where we want to be,” Okowa added.
