By Prince Efe Duku
Going by Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike’s typically honest disclosure two days ago that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the payment of some due but previously unpaid funds to Niger Delta states, including Delta, it is now both a moral imperative and a bounden duty of vigilant citizenship to ask Governor Ifeanyi Okowa some necessary questions.
Why has Okowa not spoken honestly and factually on Delta’s alleged receipt of the following monies (and possibly others) from the Federal Government:
(i) N250 Billion 13% derivation funds that accrued from 1999 – 2015;
(ii) N60 Billion refunded to Delta for works done on federal roads;
(iii) N10 Billion as salary arrears for Delta’s workers; and
(iv) N10 Billion for pensions?
If truly received, it means that outside Delta’s regular huge monthly FAAC allocations, the Okowa regime got a whooping N330 Billion as funds due to Delta between 1999 and 2015.
Now, what exactly did the Okowa regime do with these monies? Working with notable giants in the construction industry, Wike has applied Rivers’s funds to build major roads, a world-class hospital, modern educational institutions, and traffic-easing flyovers everywhere in Rivers. They are visible for all to see.
This is why Deltans desire to know where Okowa built ours? Deltans are simply saying, ‘even if na small small ones Okowa manage build for any corner of Delta with the money, we like to know’.
It is noteworthy that Okowa recently reluctantly promised to release a paltry N2B to our suffering pensioners (out of the N10 Billion released by Buhari for them). No credible evidence that he has now done so.
Assuming he has even released the N2 Billion as promised, the next question must be, why did he seize the balance N8 Billion of the pension funds? Why if not plain wickedness?
Next, if Okowa got the N10 Billion for salary arrears, why are our workers, including staff members of DESOPADEC, treated with disdain on matters of their lawful salaries?
Where is the verifiable evidence or impact of how N330 Billion was spent in our State? Why are the issues Mr. President believes Okowa would responsibly address with the funds still plaguing Delta? Where are the monies? What happened to the monies?
We need convincing answers much more urgently than the unimaginable speed at which the N330 Billion is alleged to have been mindlessly looted. Let Okowa give us honest answers, now.