We can’t pay salaries anymore, Okowa cries

WARRI—GOVERNOR Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, has
said the impact of the renewed destruction of oil
assets in the state producing environment has gone
so bad that the state is now unable to pay salaries
regularly anymore.


Okowa
By Taboola Sponsored Links
Attack on oil installations: We can’t pay salaries
anymore, Okowa cries
ON June 30, 2016 6:46 AM / IN News /
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By Egufe Yafugborhi
WARRI—GOVERNOR Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, has
said the impact of the renewed destruction of oil
assets in the state producing environment has gone
so bad that the state is now unable to pay salaries
regularly anymore.
The governor, yesterday at the Government Office
Annex, Warri, where he convened a stakeholders
meeting on, “Creating A Peaceful Atmosphere for
the Development of Delta State and the Niger Delta
Region,” said: “The larger Nigerian government has
been in financial crisis over dwindling oil prices.
Increased production would have helped cushion
the impact but instead we are faced with
destruction of oil assets.
“Dealing with dwindling oil prices and destruction
of oil assets, we are now producing just half of our
quota. And we are all really worried because of the
greater effect is on Delta State. Before now we
receive up to N20 billion monthly, but what we
have now is so low. Last time we got N3.4 billion.
Last month what we received has dropped to N3
billion. We now get 1/7th of what we use to have.”
The governor said, going by the current financial
position, the state was no longer in a position to
pay salaries regularly just as Internally Generated
Revenue, IGR, has also nosedived.
“We met a wage bill of N7.4 billion. Our workforce
has been unchanged. With biometrics and
rationalization, we trimmed that to about N6.8
billion. With the situation, we have in our hands, we
are not in position to pay workers regularly
anymore.
“If we produce our normal volumes, we won’t have
it this bad. We have had to reduce support to the
councils. And apart from poor income from
Federation Account, IGR has also gone down
because money is not circulating.
“I do know that we were receiving reasonable Pay
As You Earn, PAYE of up to N1.5bn and N1.6bn
monthly. That has gone down. We should realise
there’s a challenge. Political office holders,
traditional rulers should build peace. Delta State
has been on the news for the wrong reasons and
that’s not where we want to be,” Okowa added.