The civil society community described Delta State, South-South Nigeria as being on a "precarious precipice", adding that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration has plunged the state into a huge debt burden.
Delta state civil society community has called on the traditional rulers, religious and opinion leaders as well as leaders of thought to intervene and save the state from total collapse.
The civil society community described Delta State, South-South Nigeria as being on a "precarious precipice", adding that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration has plunged the state into a huge debt burden.
The civil society community on Monday issued Okowa a seven-day ultimatum to release the financial status of the state, noting that in the last year, his administration at different times borrowed N150 billion termed as bridge finance. The group noted that the administration is seeking another N40 billion loan from Fidelity Bank.
The civil society had in its statement titled "Delta State Drifting Precariously Towards The Precipice", signed by its president in the state, Martins Kedienhon, noted that they were concerned about the borrowings.
On Thursday, the civil society community issued a statement titled "Civil Society Community In Delta State Plans Visit To Royal Fathers, Opinion leaders, Leaders Of Thought To Seek Their Help In Rescuing The State From The Precipice".
Signed by its president in the state, Martins Kedienhon, the statement said, "Sequel to our earlier alert to Deltans about the state drifting into the precipice as a result of the humongous debts the state governor Ifeanyi Okowa has plunged the state into, we have called on traditional rulers, religious leaders and leaders of thoughts to as a matter of urgency and importance come to the rescue of our state from total collapse following the humongous debts Okowa has plunged the state into.
"The civil society community has decided to embark on visits to royal fathers, religious leaders, opinion leaders and leaders of thought. The visit is to elicit their support to salvage the state from further drifting into the abyss. It has become obvious that the Delta state government is not sober that they are leaving debts for our children and our children's children to pay. In their rather arrogant and wicked manner they are even determined to take more loans that would have no bearing on the development of the state.
“What makes it even more baffling is that pensioners are still yet to receive their pension emoluments after the state government had boasted that they were taking a N150 billion "bridge finance" that would partly settle pensioners entitlements.
"If truly the main purpose of government is security and welfare of its citizens then the Delta state government under Okowa's watch has failed in its social contract to its citizens. As the civil society community, we have decided to embark on this noble mission and we equally solicit the support of all stakeholders to resist the deliberate impoverishment of our citizens even when the state had received about N3.7 trillion in the last seven years from the federation account alone and nothing to show for it."