- ‘Circle of unpleasant, reckless wastage of resources, creating jobs for the boys’ – APC
- ‘It’s display of profligacy, wanton economic recklessness’ – Stakeholders
- It’s for effective, optimal service delivery – Okowa’s CPS defends
Criticisms continue to trail the recent creation of four more ministries and appointments of political aides as Commissioners by the Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa just as the opposition party in the state, All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Governor of recklessnes in the use of state resources, ostensibly for political reason less than two years to the end of his 8-year tenure that will elapse in 2023.
Okowa had in the process of reconstituting a new State Exco recently, sworn in 11 new Commissioners bringing the total to an unprecedented number of 29. In the process, he fragmented the Ministry of Education into four, namely, the Ministry of Higher Education, the Ministry of Primary Education, the Ministry of Secondary Education and the Ministry of Technical Education.
He also split the Ministry of Works into the Ministry of Highway & Urban Roads and Ministry of Rural Roads and sworn in 2 Commissioners for the ministries.
Reacting to the development, the main opposition party in the State, the APC described the appointment of six Commissioners for the Ministry of Education and an additional Commissioner for the Ministry of Works, as “a circle of unpleasant and reckless wastage of state resources”.
In a statement signed by the State Caretaker Publicity Secretary of the party, Sylvester Imonina, and made available to newsmen, the party expressed concern that, given the state of the nation and the state’s economy, decisions and policy directions ought to be guided by a need to minimize waste and not engage in wanton frittering away of scarce resources.
“The All Progressives Congress, Delta State, notes with concern the recent appointments of four Commissioners for education and two Commissioners for works! The worries of Delta APC is predicated on the fact that because of economic downturn plaguing the world, saner Governments are circumspect in decisions that have the potential of depleting states’ scarce resources.
“Recent events in Delta State have shown that the PDP-led Government has scored a hat-trick in economic wastages and indifference to the economic well-being of Deltans.
“A cursory look at these appointments/portfolios leaves no one in doubt that they were made as ‘jobs for the boys’, not for the sake of delivery of dividends of democracy to Deltans.
“Delta APC dares to say that two vibrant hands can conveniently man the Ministry of Education, as against the appointments of four Commissioners! Also, one vibrant and capable Deltan can handle the Ministry of Works, instead of two people.
“We want to draw the attention of Deltans to the fact that, while they wallow in abject poverty, every newly appointed Commissioner is entitled to at least a non-refundable sum of sixty million naira as take-off allowances. What an economic drain”, the party said.
According to the opposition party, 29-member exco for a state with 25 local government areas was an aberration, expressing its outright rejection of the appointments and splitting and duplicating of ministries.
“The Constitution only says that every Local Government Area is entitled to a civil Commissioner in the State Executive Council. There is no justifiable reason for the appointments of people whose services are not needed before any serious minded Government could achieve her programmes for the citizenry!
“Delta APC calls on Deltans to reject this amorphous portfolios/conduit pipes. The State Governor should be called upon to downsize his cabinet and huge political aides. The Governor should desist from under-developing Deltans at the altar of politics. Deltans need more monies for the development of the State,” the party argued.
A cross section of Deltans who made their views known to The New Diplomat also condemned the alleged flagrant manner the governor is wantonly wasting the state resources in unprofitable economic ventures when the people are suffering abject poverty with pensioners owed years of unpaid pensions.
In his own reaction, a former Director-General of Delta State Traffic Management Authority, Dr. Stephen Dieseruvwe insisted that no amount of explanation could justify the appointment of four Commissioners into one ministry, adding that it is a blatant display of profligacy
“As a stakeholder in the state, I feel having two Commissioners for Works, and four Commissioners for Education is sheer waste of our resources. How on earth can anyone justify appointing six Commissioners when two Commissioners would suffice for the two Ministries? Lagos State with huge monthly IGR, has one Commissioner, each, for Works and Education. This is nothing but display of profligacy,” he noted.
Also speaking in the same vein, a retired Colonel from the Nigerian Army and one of the biggest farmers in the State, Col. Joshua Enaibe, described the fragmentation of two ministries into eight and appointment of eight persons as Commissioners, as nothing but plunging the State deeper into debts.
He expressed surprise that of all the 36 States in the country, there is no evidence of any governor who has appointed four Commissioners for one Ministry, describing it as laughable.
He said: “Personally, I am shocked, four people to one ministry? To say the least, it is laughable. And imagine anybody defending that. Let us name another state out of 36 that has that record. This is one decision they got way too wrong. You can see why Akwa Ibom, Rivers, even Cross River, are well ahead of Delta in many critical areas, according to my thinking.
“Delta should be leading the South-South region in all spheres. But when you fritter away scarce resources, you box yourself into a corner and go borrowing.
“Look at Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai downsized the ministries in 2019. How much do we generate here in terms of IGR? Our problem is misplaced priorities. Lagos has an estimated 22 million people but one commissioner each for both Education and Works ministries. That’s a fair deal I guess.”
Another concerned Deltan who rejected the duplication of ministries and appointment of several Commissioners for one ministry by Gov. Okowa is Alex Nwadiamu, lawyer and APC chieftain from Ndokwa in Delta North.
He alleged that the Okowa-led administration had achieved very little as there was no policy direction he could identify. Although he acknowledged the new secretariat being built by the governor, he frowned at his refusal to disclose what it costs the State to put the structure in place.
He said, “As an individual, I think our potentials have been grossly untapped and resources evidently mismanaged. Except for the new government secretariat whose cost is unknown, this administration has done nothing worthy of analysis.
“The storm water project has been a huge disappointment. We still experience massive flooding when it rains. There are no jobs for our youths and not a single industry has been built in Delta under this administration. All our industries built by Dennis Osadebey have been either balkanized or sold outright.
“AT&P, Sapele is gone; Asaba Texile Mill is gone; all the rubber and palm kernel plantations are gone and the government does not seem to recognise agriculture as a veritable means of creating employment. The government agriculture program is mere slogan of YAGEP, YAGEM & SMART nothing.”
“I would want to see a government that addresses unemployment through agric programs and infrastructure development. These are employment creating areas of our economy.”
Meanwhile, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Olisa Ifeajika had defended the decision of the government to replicate more ministries from the existing two and appointment of eight Commissioners in the place of two previously.
According to him, his boss had good reasons for assigning four Commissioners to one ministry, adding that the seeming duplication of the office was to ensure optimal results in the two sectors.
While waving off the financial commitment that will be involved in the appointment of extra Commissioners as a non-issue, Ifeajika stated that the splitting of the ministries was to reduce the burden of management on few persons.
“The same resources that were being used by one person as Commissioner or by one ministry, is the same that these ones are using to manage the ministries.
“Salaries are not the issue, productivity is what matters. If it’s salary, government should be able to accommodate that. These (Education and Works Ministries) are very big sectors and the governor wants optimal results. The governor means well for the people”, he said.
On why the state was not taking a cue from states like Kaduna and Lagos states, the governor’s spokesperson explained that needs and priorities of states differ and that the action was taken in Delta because citizens have hunger for education and infrastructure developments.
The CPS further explained that it was impossible for Delta State to copy from other fast developing States in the country, adding that each State has its own peculiarity.
“States have their peculiarities, and no state is the same. They have their sizes different, and in some states, they have 34 local government areas, some have 20, Delta has 25. The level of education and infrastructural developments in some states is not the same in other states; so many things differ. And the need of some states is certainly not the need of other states. The priority of some states is not the same with the others.
“In Delta, we put a lot of premium on education; education is big. Primary education alone is a big thing and secondary is the same. In the wisdom of the governor, apparently, from experience, only one person in that ministry (Primary and Secondary education) may have had some lapses. So, in his wisdom, he felt that, given four people in the area of education will give him the results he wants. You won’t expect one Commissioner to be handling Primary, Secondary, Tertiary education and Vocational.
“I am not sure if there is any government that has that, it depends on what they want. No one of these education sub-sectors will achieve optimum success if given to one person to manage. I am sure with the governor’s previous experiments, he felt that to get the kind of results he desired and that would be good for the state, there was a need to put more hands on the plough”, he said.
When The New Diplomat reached out to one of the beneficiaries of the seemingly duplicated ministry of education, Prof. Patrick Muoboghare, he simply noted that “The Ministry of Higher Education (his ministry) was not split”.
