Two top officials of new administration in Delta State, who are close
associates of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, have accused former Governor
Emmanuel Uduaghan of running the State with a troubling depth of
financial profligacy. One of the sources described the state of affairs
in Delta as “Cyclone Uduaghan,” alleging that the former Governor not
only ran the State aground financially, but also actually went ahead to
program a catastrophe for the just inaugurated administration
of Governor Okowa.
One source said Governor Okowa had chosen not to whine like many of
his colleagues, but added that the incumbent Governor “knows [full] well
that he is in trouble. In fact, several elder statesmen across the
State are putting pressure on him to let the world know what he met on
ground.”
Governor Okowa’s newly appointed spokesmen are declining
to comment publicly on the issue, which is threatening to boil over in
Delta State. But they privately admit that the State’s financial shape
is dire.
Mr. Uduaghan, a medical doctor, reportedly left behind a total debt
of more than N773 billion, according to current estimates by officials
of the state. They disclosed that ex-Governor Uduaghan accumulated
liabilities to the tune of N238.6 billion in the form of bonds, bank
debts and related obligations, and an additional N534.6 billion in
pure contractual liabilities.
A source said the former Governor’s sole aim, as his tenure wound
down, was to financially cripple the State beyond recovery before his
exit. He said the evidence gathered so far was overwhelming. Under
Uduaghan, Delta State received a monthly allocation of about N10 billion
from the Federation Account. The former Governor entered into so-called
irrevocable standing payment order (ISPO) bonds of N5.1 and N1.2
billion respectively, deductible at source from the State’s monthly
allocation from the Federation Account. After these deductions,
the State’s net receipt fell to N3.7 billion a month.
The State's internally generated revenues (IGR) of N3.5 billion a
month bumped the figure up to N7.3 billion a month. On the
surface, revenues of N7.3 billion look like a tidy sum for
Delta State, and Mr. Uduaghan used that figure to claim that he did not
leave an empty treasury.
However, our sources described the former Governor’s claim as a big
lie. They revealed that personnel costs, in terms of salaries, pensions
and other benefits to workers, amount to N7.6 billion each month. In
addition, statutory transfers to statutory agencies, including the Delta
State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESPOPADEC), amount
to N4.3 billion a month. Overhead costs in the State public service are
N4.4 billion a month, bringing the State’s total statutory
expenditure to N16.3 billion a month.
“Governor Okowa would need to borrow N9.1 billion every month just to
run government business in Delta,” said one source. He added, “If His
Excellency, Dr. Okowa, chooses not to borrow, then his administration is
dead on arrival.”
The source accused Mr. Uduaghan of aiming to ambush his predecessor
with a financial picture that is programmed to lead to Mr. Okowa’s
failure. “Where will the new administration source the funds to
bring development projects and initiatives to the people of the state as
the dividends of governance?” one source asked.
Our sources accused Mr. Uduaghan of structuring the repayment
schedule of the loans to start in June 2015 to coincide with the arrival
of a new administration in the State.
To clearly illustrate the
weight of the financial burden that Uduaghan left behind,
one source said, “If you shared the debt exposure of N773.2
billion [among] the entire local government areas in Nigeria, each
council would amass a debt burden of N1 billion.”
Two of our sources claimed that Mr. Uduaghan frittered away scarce
State resources to serve his obscene taste for expensive personal
acquisitions as well as his unrestrained social lifestyle. They said
that, with the State treasury at his disposal, the former Governor spend
recklessly in pursuit of his adulterous escapades, often with married
women from across the state and beyond. One source said Mr. Uduaghan
seemed to have a weird attraction to women married to public figures in
his State, adding that he was particularly obsessed with any women who
were linked to his cousin and former Governor, James Onanefe Ibori. Mr.
Ibori is serving a 13-year jail term in the UK after pleading no-contest
to charges of laundering tens of millions of pound sterling through
British courts and institutions.
Some officials in Delta State allege that, after the April
11 governorship election, Mr. Uduaghan spent eye-popping
sums to purchase 15 swanky homes in the United Arab Emirates. They add
that Mr. Uduaghan paid for all 15 properties on the same day, as if he
were an oil sheik.
By contrast, former Governor Uduaghan’s critics say he left no
meaningful projects or infrastructure in Delta State during his
eight-year control of the State treasury, save for a dubious Asaba
Airport project that has gulped more than N40 billion but has yet to be
approved by Nigerian aviation authorities because of the
facility’s haphazard conception, construction and delivery.
“Today, the five major cities of the state, namely Warri, Asaba,
Agbor, Sapele and Ughelli, remain a shadow of themselves,” one critic
said.
Another source said that, while a few other oil-producing states were
busy advancing the fortunes of their States with such infrastructure as
metro rails, stadia and highways, Mr. Uduaghan’s
administration “simply dipped its hands in the state treasury and simply
asked Deltans to ‘go to hell.’”
Muhammadu Buhari during the inauguration today
