The Delta State Government
has dismissed claims by a pressure group, Isoko Brains Initiative (IBI) that
the entire Isoko nation was shortchanged in the 2018 budget by Governor Ifeanyi
Okowa.
The accused the governor
of dedicating only one percent of the entire budget for Isoko nation, even as
it blamed the three Isoko representatives at the state House of Assembly for
poor lobbying.
IBI therefore passed a
vote of no confidence on Okowa and the state lawmakers of Isoko extraction.
But the Commissioner for Budget
and Economic Planning, Dr. Kingsley Emu, in a statement said that the budget
was misinterpreted while the provisions in some sub heads were distorted by the
group.
In the statement made
available to our correspondent in Asaba on Saturday, Emu noted that while it is
encouraging for citizens involvement and engagement in the budgeting process,
it is also advisable for citizens to have a better understanding of a budgeting
process.
According to him, the
erroneous one percent claim, which he said is actually 2.8% is only in capital
expenditure that is so spelt out for specific interventions.
He emphasised that there
are omnibus sub heads in ministries of works, health, environment, agriculture,
job creation, basic and higher education, water resources, commerce, micro
credit which also take care of developmental yearnings of Isoko people.
“More importantly there are key provisions of N1.5 billion and N1.3 billion for
social security and community development which are also for capital
expenditure in the same budget for all the 25 local government areas,” he
added.
Emu maintained that Isoko
nation is one of the few local governments that have the benefit of drawing
from two key budgets of Delta State and DESOPADEC, pointing out that DESOPADEC
has a budgetary provision of N28 billion as capital expenditure for which the
Isoko nation is a legitimate beneficiary.
He, however, said that the
claims by the group was based on misunderstandings of budgetary provisions,
adding, “so their uninformed conclusion cannot bear the burden of explanation
of negligence.”
The commissioner explained
that in budgeting it is impossible to identify all the issues and areas of
intervention in one year and that accounts for the use of omnibus.
“We now have a
responsibility to do an enlightenment programme for genuine citizens to educate
them on budgets and budgeting process.
“I like to commend the
representatives of the Isoko nation for their understanding of governance and
how it works but enjoin them to embark on advocacy in this area irrespective of
such politically motivated write ups.
“Even basic computation of
the capital expenditure has been distorted. We must separate serious issues of
economy from politics for obvious reasons,” Emu added.
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