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| Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa |
Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa has blamed paucity of funds for the financial struggles of his administration.
He said: “Delta has the highest deductions and highest exposure from Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC).”
Okowa said restructuring of debts by his administration ensured that the economy of the state was relatively stabilised.
His words: “When we took over leadership, we met a very difficult situation. Many states were impacted, but today if you go to our FAAC allocation, deductions from FAAC in Abuja, Delta has the highest deductions and highest exposure, but we did some restructuring… Although the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) also participated in restructuring our debts, agreements in terms of servicing our loans dropped from N5.2 billion to about N2.9 billion…
“…We may not make so much noise about the cash crunch in the media, as this is not the reason I was elected. My duty is to stabilise the economy and move it forward. But when there is no money, there is no money.”
The governor, who spoke at an interactive session with the media in Asaba, said his administration embarked on restructuring debts before CBN intervened.
Okowa lamented that the visit of Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal was politicised, stressing that it may have been informed by the recent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) convention.
Okowa said: “Tambuwal’s visit was purely social; it had nothing to do with politics.
“The empowerment/business fair was to encourage our youths, but somehow politics was dragged into it…”
He said Tambuwal was impressed with the empowerment scheme, quoting Tambuwal: ‘’I’ll send my people to understudy what you are doing with the empowerment programme’’.
