“Account For Federal Allocations To Delta State”, Militants Challenge Okowa

A militant group, New Delta Avengers (NDA), has threatened to cripple oil exploration in Delta State if Governor Ifeanyi Okowa fails to account for the federal allocations accrued so far to the state.

The militants accused Okowa of abandoning the oil-bearing communities and withholding votes for the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC).

The faceless group, in a statement yesterday by its spokesman, Cpl Olleum Bellum, apologised for aborting its press briefing on Sunday, attributing the development to espionage.

They alleged: “If you see the allocations for states that were released by the Ministry of Finance today (yesterday), you will see that Delta State and Okowa were paid N4,747,930,884.16 billion for February and DESOPADEC is supposed to get half of that money but we know that nothing was paid to the agency.

“The governor has questions to answer. What we asked for is the name and physical location of projects that this government has spread in Ijaw, Isoko, Ndokwa and Urhobo communities. We want to know what he has done for them and the money given.

“Let the governor wake up from his slumber and come to terms with his vicious acts towards our communities. He cannot wish away the truth. He has not done anything to benefit the oil communities from Ndokwa, Koko to Forcados.

“We are saying that he is robbing Peter to pay Paul and we stand by this. Let him release the details of funds that he has given to DESOPADEC. Why is he not publishing the state’s allocations, internally generated revenue (IGR) and other incomes as other states do.”

The group urged the Federal Government to pay the 13 per cent derivation funds directly to the communities for their development.

 

 

Source: The Guardian