Retirees protest unpaid pension
Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba
The Delta State Commissioner for Finance, Fidelis Tilije, yesterday said the state’s debt size was not more than N272 billion currently.
Speaking with newsmen at the Government House in Asaba, Tilije said about N110 billion is owed to contractors and outstanding pension while balance comprises debt was inherited by the Okowa administration.
According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected debt servicing in the country.
“The debt profile as we speak is N272 billion; that is the debt size. Out of this, N84 billion is due to contractors, pension arrears is about N27 billion. The balance was debt profile inherited by this (Okowa) administration.
“There have been bailouts before we came, there have been series of indebtedness (contractual obligations) and then, naturally, we needed to carry them out.
“The CBN at some point in time through the instrumentality of NEC, had to freeze the payment of indebtedness that were granted to past administrations because of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
On the much-talked-about refundable arrears of deductions from the 13 percent oil derivation fund, the finance commissioner said that Delta had accessed a total of N44.7 billion out of the N240 billion, representing about 18.6 per cent of what is due to the state.
Tilije said: “What are the expected refunds that we (members of the public) kept bandying across? We have a total refund of N240 billion with respect to 13 per ent derivation. Out of this, we have received N14.7 billion in three quarterly installments. And, also accessed N30 billion from the bridging finance.
“We had attempted to approach the market to discount a figure of N150 billion, which is about half of the expected refund. We eventually rejigged that process and reduced it to N100 billion. So, we have received N14.7 billion and have also accessed N30 billion from
the commercial market (
banks).”
On why the state was not cleaning up the debt profile if it was confident that the expected refunds from Federal Allocation Accounts Committee (FAAC) could clean out such debts, he said that “Okowa is a very conservative manager of resources.”
“When he (Governor Okowa) came on board in 2015, he saw real hell in trying to manage resources of the state which is why all the state governors have to take the salary bailout of N10 billion.
“The truth is if we are to take the total refunds, we will be the (incoming) government into the same trap which Okowa met in 2015. So, he decided that he will be his brother’s keeper, he will take a percentage of it and leave the other for the incoming government. I do know that most of all the oil producing states went ahead to discount 100 per cent of the expected refund. If we had done that, then we would have been able to cleanup out debt profile.
“However, what is extremely critical here is the fact that government is a continuum, and therefore it is important for the current administration to think that Delta will not die after it; and, therefore must make provision for the survival of the next administration.
“So, we are laying a very solid financial foundation for them to come and hit the ground running. That is why we didn’t cleanup the totality of the debt; because we know that the cash flow is enough to sustain the legacy projects, it is enough to complete and commission all the legacy projects that we are doing.
“Another N10 billion as salary bailout, which was also given in 2015, was across board. The budget size of 2022 is N478 billion. Again, it has to be funded though various sources.
“I have said before Delta is the most solvent state in Nigeria, which is why if were to take a discounting of all the expected refunds from the FG, we will write off all the debt profile of Delta State clean without touching FAAC and IGR receipts which means that Delta is the only state that can write off all the debts and run normally.”
The clarification by the finance commissioner was coming on the heels of resumed protests by hundreds of pensioners, who yesterday barricaded the Government House gate on the Asaba-Anwai-Illah Road using mainly their bodies as some of the lay on the road.
Clad in black, the protesters for about seven hours occupied the usually busy inter-state road as well as the entrance to the seat of government in the state singing solidarity songs and raining invectives on the Okowa administration and accusing the governor of insensitivity by preoccupying himself with the political campaigns towards 2023 while numerous pensioners were groaning in pains and hunger.
Bearing placards with various inscriptions calling on the state government to pay them their dues since Governor Nwesom Wike of Rivers State had reportedly revealed that Delta and other oil producing states had sufficient funds to settle them.
However, the protesters bluntly rebuffed attempts by top-ranking government officials, including the finance commissioner, to address them.
Following the protest, commuters on the Summit-Anwai-Illah Road as well as people going in and out of the Government House had to trek long distances or use alternative routes because heavy-duty vehicles like trucks and lorries and many other vehicles were stuck in the resultant heavy gridlock as a horde of armed policemen and other security personnel took position at the locked government house gate.
THISDAY, however, learnt that the protesting pensioners, who are mainly retired primary school teachers and local government workers, were unhappy that the N2.5 billion released by the state government about two weeks ago to augment their pension payment was considered inadequate.
