Gov. Okowa narrates how Delta state weathered the storm of recession

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state has narrated how the State was able to weather the storm of recession that swept across the length and breadth of the federation.

The Governor made the narration in his 2018 budget presentation to the State House of Assembly today.

“The positive economic indices emerging from the National Bureau of Statistics for the second quarter of this year may have signalled an end to perhaps what has been the longest running recession in the country.

“One of the major achievements of our administration is stabilising the ship of state in the wake of the recession that swept through the country.

“Confronted with dwindling receipts from the Federation Account and Internally Generated Revenue vis-à-vis inherited contractual obligations, the first challenge we faced was the payment of salaries to the huge workforce,” Gov. Okowa stated.

Okowa stressed that pruning the size of the state workforce, which he said is still very high, contributed relieving burden on the State while recession lasted.

“To put it in context, the total staff strength of the Federal Civil Service is about 89,000. As at the time we assumed office on May 29, 2015, Delta State had over 60,000 workers on its payroll.

“However, we were able to meet our obligations to the workers through debt payment re-scheduling, cutting waste, contracts reviews, and prudent management.

“As part of the on-going biometric exercise to weed out ghost workers, the State has been able to prune the size of the workforce to 55,000, which is still very high compared to that of peer States.

“Considering the recessionary shocks that reverberated through the economy, it is no mean feat that we have not defaulted in paying our staff since the inception of this administration,” Okowa said.

He stated that the State had paid all salaries to date and supported Local Government Councils in their constitutional responsibility of the payment of salaries in excess of N5 billion.

“We have also consistently made monthly provision towards the payment of the State’s obligation to the Contributory Pension Scheme and, indeed, paid out a lump sum of N2.5b in two tranches to cushion arrears. All other outstanding liabilities are being given priority attention even as we proactively engage with organised labour to reconcile whatever discrepancies may exist in terms of actual outstanding liabilities,” the Governor said.