Presidency can't direct governors on expenditure of Paris Club refund

In spite of the much touted economic recession, Delta State governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa has appointed 2, 203 political aides so far within half of his first term of four years.

Governor Okowa's commissioner for Finance, Olorogun David Edevbie disclosed this on Monday in Asaba, while fielding questions from our correspondent on the rationale for the increase of the state overhead costs in the 2018 fiscal proposals.

In an apparent bid to debunk claims that state expenditure on political appointees are at par if not more than civil servants in the state.

The finance commissioner said the Delta State Government has 2, 203 political appointees who gulps the sum of N382 million as monthly salaries.

According to him, the state has 45,000 civil servants that gets N4.5 billion monthly as salaries.

“I find it funny when some persons say that political appointees are more than civil servants in the state, we are running an open-door policy, the state has 2, 203 political appointees and 45, 000 civil servants, the number of public servants are not included,” the Commissioner said.

The Commissioner who briefed the press with his Information and Economic Planning counterparts, Mr Patrick Ukah and Dr Kingsley Emu, also disclosed that the state debt profile to contractors stood  about N100 billion.

He said Nigeria is indebted to a total sum of over N19 trillion out of which the federal government owes N14 trillion and the States just N5 trillion, adding that the federal government owes 75% of the total foreign debt and 80% of accumulated domestic debt.

Olorogun Edevbie , a PDP governorship contender in 2015 frowned at the notion that the president had directed state governors on spending the Paris Club refunds on salaries and pensions as he queried the basis for such *purported presidential directive".

"The president cannot direct on how states should spend their monies as often reported in the media. I am aware that some governors were invited by Mr

 President to discuss the best approach to disburse and spend the monies that accrued from the Paris Club but that does not place them under the directive of the president or the presidency on how to run their states", he stressed.

Edevbie said same applied with the bailout funds, which he regarded as the political intervention by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to relieve some economically distressed APC States, especially in the South West and the North.

"It was the APC States that have the major challenges in paying salaries which originally brought about the intervention and it was not possible to give to them in exclusion of others so other states like Delta benefitted.

"Out of the bailout funds, the governor was magnanimous enough to give Local government councils in the state an interest free loan of N3.2 billion, which I personally was not happy about for not taking interest on it...", he revealed.

Also speaking, the state Commissioner for Economic Planning, Dr Kingsley Emu said establishing the Job Creation Office is one of the greatest achievements of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration.

Emu said the greatest threat to Nigeria is teeming number of youths including, graduates who are jobless, noting that with the Job Creation Office, Governor Okowa’s administration had ensured that most Deltans are not only engaged but, have become employers of labour.

According to the Commissioner, “through the Job Creation Office, a lot of persons have become employers of labour and we cannot quantify the benefits of having a healthy and working population.”

“We are here to sufficiently inform you about the 2018 budget which has been presented to the Delta State House of Assembly; the budget as crafted, provides for how to manage the activities of government throughout the year,” he said.

Moreover, “the sum of N147, 487, 809, 897 which is 49.48 per cent budget will be spent on recurrent while capital expenditure will take the sum of N150, 590, 669, 000 billion which is 50.52 per cent of the budget.”

In the 2018 fiscal outlay, recurrent expenditure - personnel cost will be N64, 352, 187, 136, overhead costs – N46, 837, 529, 552; consolidated revenue fund – N36, 298, 093, 210; while capital expenditure - economic will gulp N37, 952, 119, 208; social – N28, 694, 720, 207, environmental – N35, 251, 858, 990; general administration – N17, 691, 970, 595; DESOPADEC – N28 Billion; contingency fund – N3 Billion.

On the sources of revenue to finance the proposed budget, Dr Emu said the sum of N1, 194, 460, 212 will be raised from the internally generated revenue; statutory allocation N18, 056, 627, 329; value added tax – N251, 745, 067 and other capital receipts – N37, 893, 899, 556.