New information is emerging about how Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa may have embezzled a whopping sum of N48.6 billion, being half of the 13% derivation funds due the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) from the federal government.
The figure covers the period May 2015 to November 2016. The governor is also alleged to be planning to scrap DESOPADEC.
The workers of the commission had on Monday locked out the commission's Managing Director, Williams Makinde, as well as commissioners and other officials, during a mass protest against the governor and the commission over what they called "embezzlement" of the 13% derivation funds and "non-payment" of staff bonuses.
Confiding in SaharaReporters while reacting to the mass protest, a Director in the Delta State Ministry of Finance disclosed on Thursday that the state government has perfected plans to scrap the commission for reasons best known to Governor Okowa.
Speaking under condition of anonymity, Okowa who was sworn in May 29, 2015, collected the 13% percent derivation funds from the federal government from May 2015 to November 2016) over N97.2billion.
He explained that despite all the collections and over N48.6 billion due the commission, its 2015 budget was not funded or executed while its 2016 budget that was passed by the House of Assembly was hijacked by the governor and kept away in his drawer.
The Director gave the true figures of the 13% percent derivation funds so far collected from the federal government by governor Okowa from May 2015 to November 2016 as follows:
"May 2015: N5,678,355,659.46,
June: N7,942,766,985.64
July: N 6,922,177,277.79
August: N6,209,611,916.47
September: N6,597,077,500,30
October: N6,852,489,946.21
November: N5,957,285,179.40 and December: N6,484,943,998.60.
January 2016: N6,871,247,082.95
February: N5,728,691,450.54
March: N6,249,837,660.14
April: N5,373,451,196.92
May: N3,105,389,980.98
June: N2,807,735,938.10
July: 2,802,782,410.04
August: N2,118,119,870.27
September: N3,849,685,588.90
October: N2,555,294,615.70
November: N3,103,159,748.09
The figures total N97,210,131,006.30.
The director affirmed the total amount accruing to DESOPADEC was N48,605,065,503.10, expressing regret that the objective of the development of the oil producing areas of the state for which purpose the federal government released the 13% derivation funds to the state has been defeated.
“It is very annoying the rate at which our politicians embezzle public funds,” the official told our correspondent. “A whopping sum of N97,210,131,006.30, the governor cannot account for.”
He also stated that Governor Okowa has concluded plans to scrap the commission to satisfy his selfish interests.
“Okowa has continued to milk the commission to death. He wants to kill and bury DESOPADEC and because of that he has deprived the oil producing areas of the state for which purpose the 13% derivation fund is being released. The questions now is: has DESOPADEC received this amount since Okowa became governor of the state? If yes, where are the projects executed and completed in the oil producing areas to account for this amount during the period under review?”
He further wondered why Governor Okowa is diverting funds meant for the development of areas of the state which bear the burden of environmental degradation and pollution due to oil exploration to fund the Asaba Capital Development Commission, stressing that in the past one and half years, DESOPADEC has been managed without a budget.
According to him, “At the end of every month, the governor invites the Managing Director, Mr. Makinde and the Executive Director of Finance, Mr. Askia Ogie to his office where he hands over to them a few millions of naira for salary and diesel for generators. The backlog of debt owed contractors by the commission till date has not been cleared."
Last year, a Director in the commission confided in SaharaReporters how the governor at the end of every month invites the Managing Director of the Commission and a few directors to Asaba to release to them salaries, as well as how the governor bribed the leadership and members of the Host Communities of Oil and Gas (HOSTCOM), Delta State chapter with N5 million not to mobilize protest of any kind in the state.
As of the time of filing in this report, calls put to the state Commissioner of Information, Patrick Ukah, were not answered.
