Following the series of mixed reactions and agitations by the people of Isoko nation of Delta state over what they called 1% arbitrary allocation of funds for projects in the area in the state 2018 budget signed into law by governor Ifeanyi Okowa, the state government has said Isoko nation is suffering from amnesia (loss of memory).
Reacting to the grievances of Isoko nation, the state commissioner for economic planning, Kingsley Emu, in a statement on behalf of state the state government, described the Isoko as uninformed and uneducated people.
According to Mr. Emu, while it is encouraging for citizens involvement and engagement in the budgeting process it is also advisable for us to have a better understanding of a budgeting process, adding that “the erroneous 1% claim which is actually 2.8% is only in capital expenditure that is so spelt out for specific interventions. There are omnibus sub heads in ministries of works, Health, Environment, Agriculture, Job Creation, Basic and higher education, Water Resources, Commerce, micro credit.”
“More importantly there are key provisions of N1.5bn and N1.3bn for social security and community development which are also for capital expenditure in the same budget for all the 25 LGAs. Isoko nation is one of the few local governments that have the benefit of drawing from two key budgets of Delta State and DESOPADEC.
“DESOPADEC has a budgetary provision of N28bn as capital expenditure for which the Isoko nation is a legitimate beneficiary. The authors developed amnesia on all of these provisions. So their uninformed conclusion cannot bear the burden of explanation of negligence.
“In budgeting it is impossible to identify all the issues and areas of intervention in one year and that accounts for the use of omnibus. We now have a responsibility to do an enlightenment programme for genuine citizens to educate them on budgets and budgeting process.
“I like to commend the representatives of the Isoko nation for their understanding of governance and how it works but enjoin them to embark on advocacy in this area irrespective of such politically motivated write ups. Even basic computation of the capital expenditure has been distorted. We must separate serious issues of economy from politics for obvious reasons.” the statement added.
