Delta state governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s government is said to be drifting as Ministries, Departments and Agencies, (MDAs), in the state are virtually asleep following their inability to access funds from their budget, HardReporters can authoritatively report.
Taking a tour of some of the establishments in the state, workers lamented the ugly situation to our correspondent which revealed a lull in activities as they could hardly boast of even stationery for routine administrative work for lack of funds.
It was also revealed that the situation has made most of the commissioners, special advisers and heads of extra ministerial departments to be irregular to work as they often complained of not having a conducive environment to put in their best.
“What can one do without funds? Poor budget performance has been a major problem in Delta state with the Ministries, Departments and Agencies finding it extremely difficult to access their funds from the Ministry of Economic Planning thereby leading to abandonment of projects, the continous appearance of such projects in the state’s annual budgets and huge indebtedness to contractors.
“When the governor came on board in May 2015, there was great optimism in the air as he campaigned on the twin policies of prosperity for all Deltans and a pan Delta agenda. Today both policies are still in womb of time and Deltans are patiently waiting for the birth of the promises. I can tell you in confidence that we are dying in silence. The man is running the state like his private estate business and no one dares rise eyebrows.” a commissioner confided in a HardReporters correspondent in a telephone conversation.
Also lamented over the situation, a Director in the ministry of finance who pleaded for anonymity revealed that “For quite sometime now no Ministry, Department or Agency in the state has recorded up to 25% budget performance. Regretably the situation is not likely to improve until there are no longer projects that are dear to the governor that must be funded first before any other in the state.” adding that “For now such projects are roads, storm control tunnels and the Asaba stadium.”
