Delta State Government has revealed that the federal government has approved payments of N240 billion as crude oil diversion arrears since 2004, citing that it has received tranche payments of more than N14 billion so far.
This was revealed in a statement from Delta State’s finance commissioner, Chief Fidelis Tilije, on Monday.
He added that the state’s total debt profile currently sits at N272 billion as Niger Delta states, led by Rivers State, revealed that they are using bypass arrears to boost infrastructure.
Tilije pointed out that the 240 billion naira repayment from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) was not a loan, but the state’s share of 13 per cent of arrears in diverting crude oil from 2004 to date. .
- He said, “Delta State’s total debt profile as we speak is N272 billion. Of this, N84 billion is owed to contractors, and pension arrears amount to around N27 billion.
- “The rest is the debt profile, most of it was actually inherited by the administration led by Ifeanyi Okowa.
- “And in these last few months, we have a total expected rebate of N240 billion on the 13 per cent oil diversion rebate to nine states that is ongoing.
- “Initially we wanted to phase out a lot of legacy projects that we wanted to complete, we approached the State House of Assembly and got approval to discount N150 billion, which we cut to N100 billion as a bridge financing facility from the N240 billion.
- “I recently said that of these N240 billion expected from FAAC receipts, Delta has received N14.7 billion in three quarterly installments.”
He added that of the bridge funding of N100 billion, Delta State has accessed N30 billion from the commercial market.
He also pointed out that if the state government had fully taken or discounted the FAAC rebate of 240 billion naira, the next successive government will draw on the experience Governor Okowa had in 2015.
“So unlike the other oil-producing states that fully discounted their refunds, Okowa decided to be his brother’s keeper, taking a percentage of the N240 billion and leaving the rest for the incoming government to access over a period of four years.
- “Also, if we had proceeded to discount the 240 billion naira in full, we would have been able to pay off all our outstanding debt.” added.
For the record: Remove Nairametrics reported last week what youRivers State Governor Nyesom Wike revealed how he managed to finance the many projects in the state that are currently being commissioned by various political leaders from all parties.
He said the projects were financed with cumulative diversion funds of 13%, which had been owed to Rivers and other Niger Delta states since 1999. The funds were recently released by the presidency.