Citing perceived injustices and marginalisation against them, Ijaw oil and<\/p>\n
gas producing communities in Delta State, have rejected the 2016 budget
\nfor the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC,
\nalready passed and signed into law.<\/p>\n
Bishop Samson Amajene, President, Gbaramatu Kingdom, with four other
\nleaders in Ijaw kingdoms, urged Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to review the
\nbudget and ensure that the \u2018\u2019imbalance and injustice,\u2019\u2019 were redressed, as
\nthese violate the law setting up the commission.<\/p>\n
Prior to the passage of the DESOPADEC budget, they had warned Governor
\nOkowa that the Commission\u2019s Chairman and Managing Director, who are
\nItsekiri and Urhobo respectively, have allocated more projects to their
\nethnic nationalities to the detriment of Ijaw oil communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cSadly, instead of addressing the lopsidedness against the Ijaw which
\nproduces 27 percent of oil and gas resources in the state, Governor Okowa
\nkept a disturbing silence, allowing the these elements in the commission
\nand House of Assembly to carry out this marginalisation unhindered\u2019\u2019, they
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Reviewing the budget comparatively, they described as incredulous that out
\nof 73 new centralized projects of over N4,004,103,844, only two projects
\nwere allocated to Ijaw areas, while 40 projects of N2,141,846,725 went to
\nUrhobo areas and Ndokwa got N18,000 at N620,000,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cSimilarly, Urhobo alone was allocated N2.048 billion as personnel cost,
\nwhereas the Ijaws (second largest producers in Delta) received a paltry
\nN577m. Urhobo further has over N2.354 bn budget for capital projects,
\nindicating that salaries have reverted to first-line charge, as against
\npayment from the various ethnic nationalities\u2019 accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n
They accused the state government of marginalizing the Ijaw communities in
\nthe scheme of things, especially DESOPADEC, State Tenders Board and the
\nMinistry of Works, adding that the situation calls for review and overhaul
\nof the overall 2016 Delta State budget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Citing perceived injustices and marginalisation against them, Ijaw oil and gas producing communities in Delta State, have rejected the 2016 budget for the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n