Delta Is Bankrupt, Cannot Pay Salary Anymore,  Says Okowa

The current economic crunch would bite workers harder in Delta State, as

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has declared that the state was

bankrupt as such can no longer afford to pay salary regularly in the

coming months.
Delta State is known for over bloated workforce with political appointees

in the region of 1,500.
Governor Okowa blamed the unabated destruction of the oil and gas

pipelines which has affected allocations accruing to the crisis prone

state for his inability to pay salaries on time.
The governor dropped the bombshell at a public forum with stakeholders on,

“Creating A Peaceful Atmosphere for the Development of Delta State and the

Niger Delta Region,”
He 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 realize

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''.
But the governor has come under scathing criticisms as respondents have

accused the governor of not setting his priorities right and require

prudence in the resources management and place priorities in the things

that matter.
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