Chairman of the Delta State Board of Internal Revenue, (DBIR), Mr. Monday Onyema and the board’s Director of Finance and Administration, (DFA), Mrs. Ajaro have been accused of squandering over N5 billion belonging to the board including monthly subventions accrued to the board from the state government since its inauguration in 2015.
Speaking with SaharaReporters under the condition of anonymity, over some certain issues of big concern to the generality of the board, a member of the board who accused the board chairman of embezzling over N5billion, disclosed that a leadership failure is currently rocking the board, adding that "The board chairman in connivance with the Director of Finance and Administration, (DFA), Mrs. Ajaro who are running the board as their personal estate have finished the finances of board."
According to the board member, since the inauguration of the board, Mr. Onyema who was a bursar at the National Open University of Nigeria, was politically compensated with the exalted position of revenue board chairman by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa following his financial supports and contributions to Okowa's 2015 governorship election, disclosing that as a result, the board chairman has kept the board in auto cruise as he operates from his residential apartment and making all the members of the board redundant.
"Onyema, does not come to the office and for the past one month we have not sight our eyes on him, he travels across the globe flexing with the board finances. Onyema, spends cash in dollars, living a very flamboyant life. The board ought to be run based on a certain percentage accrued from the monthly Internally Generated Revenue, owing to the cash crunch, the state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa decided to be giving the board a monthly subvention which ranges from N120 to N150million monthly depending on what the state gets financially at the end of each month.
“But, the chairman of the board and the DFA who are sole signatories to the board's account, have turned the board to their personal ATMs, the board members do not even know the cash budgeting for the board hence making them ineffective and redundant. It would shock you to note that, over a year after the establishment of this board, there has been no official management meeting, no single minute of board meetings, no Audit Committee, no Enforcement and Compliance Committee, no Performance Review Committee and there is no Tender Board Committee." the visibly angry board members said.
Another board member who spoke to SaharaReporters disclosed that following the corrupt and fraudulent way and manner the board chairman, has been running the board in connivance with the board's DFA, members have been kept in darkness as everything is been done in secrecy adding that sometime last year some members of the board and the board secretary, Mr. Mike Edegware threatened resignation but were begged.
The board member also disclosed that since the inception of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, the state monthly Internally Generated Revenue has been nothing to write home about but Delta state government got the highness Internally Generated Revenue of N6.8billion in January this year through some payment made by Chevron oil company.
"Let me open the eyes of Deltans again, due to the none availability of some vital committees such as the Enforcement and Compliance Committee, the state government is losing millions monthly as the board do not have the necessary tools to implement court judgements against erring tax defaulters in the state, and this has further affected negatively the revenue drive of the state. And we have come to discover of recent that following the none availability of the above-mentioned committees, the chairman has been corruptly amassing wealth through the back doors.
"As we speak, there are exactly 50 persons from Onicha Ukwuani, the hometown of the chairman on the payroll of the board who are being paid a minimum of N350, 000 monthly despite the fact that these individuals are employed to do nothing on the board. Also, during the 2016 Christmas celebration, Mr. Onyema single-handedly embarked on the purchase of rice and herds of cattle worth over N30million for his political constituencies without an approval of the board. Demands by some of us who are board and already suspecting some corrupt practices by the chairman and the DFA have always been tactically rebuffed.” another aggrieved member said.
A top management staff at the board's headquarters in Warri who is also abreast with the lingering corrupt practices and the rallying leadership crisis confided in SaharaReporters that "Of the truth, the board chairman and the DFA are deeply enmeshed in corruption, and fraudulent dealings and things were not really like this before the coming of Okowa."
“Though, I can’t confirm if the board chairman's illicit financial dealings are in collaboration with the state governor, but I can confirm to you that the DBIR chairman was appointed to head the board as a way of compensation to him because of his huge financial commitments and contributions to the campaigns of Okowa during the 2015 general elections,” the staff stated.
All calls to the Chairman of the Delta State Board of Internal Revenue, (DBIR), Mr. Monday Onyema were not responded to the board’s Director of Finance and Administration, (DFA), Mrs. Ajaro could not be reached as her mobile line was not reachable as at the time of filing in this report.