– He blamed it on the activities of militants in the Niger Delta
– He also said the internally generated revenue in the state has dropped
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has decried the destruction of pipelines by militants in the Niger Delta region and said it has affected the payment of salaries. Governor Ifeanyi Okowa
Different militant groups have emerged in the region with the most notorious being the Niger Delta Avengers that has claimed responsibility for the destruction of oil and gas pipelines in the region.
Vanguard reports that the Delta state governor who spoke at Government Office Annex in Warri at a stakeholders’ meeting cautioned that salary of workers was at stake due to the drop in oil production caused by the militants.
He 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.”
He said the problem was also compounded by the drop in the state’s internally generated revenue.
“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.
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