WARRI — SECRETARY to the Delta State government, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, weekend, replied those accusing the Governor James Ibori administration of squandering the accruals from the 13 per cent oil derivation fund to the state, saying that the critics got it wrong as the money was being prudently spent for development of human resources and infrastructure in the state.
Admitting that "the state has had relatively more funds than other states because we produce the highest quantity of oil," he told Vanguard that "the Derivation Fund comes with the statutory allocation to the state and in utilizing the money, certain factors are brought into consideration.
"If people think back, they will remember that at the time this 13 per cent was to be paid to the oil states, the Federal Government put a clause that these people must pay the minimum wage of N7,500. So, while Delta State is paying N7,500 to workers, there are some states because they are not receiving derivation, are not paying N7,500. Some are paying N5,000 and others N6,000. The point being made here is that definitely, our wages are higher," he said.
He revealed that "to be able to meet up, you have to use part of the derivation to pay the wages. But the understanding is that derivation is for development and it also includes human development and we employed over 13,000 workers since this administration came in. From the analysis done when we came in, we had fewer people from the oil producing areas than other areas, so, we came up with an employment policy to balance the equation. More people have been employed by this government from what I will call these disadvantaged areas than we used to have before. So a lot more of them are getting more money in terms of salary. You can see that part of what we have used it for is trying to empower our people."
On physical things done with the money, he asserted: "Everybody is talking now that Warri is developing fast: Airport road has been tarred; stadium is being built; hospitals are being worked on; television stations have been built. On bridges, we are talking about four bridges and even thinking about a fifth one. All these things are money from derivation.
"Without derivation, I do not expect any state in this country to say they can go and start building bridges if they are not getting extra money. I don’t. Let me take a state like Niger, I do not expect it to embark on the building of a bridge because they don’t have the money to face it in few months like we are doing.
"Delta State has taken on a lot more projects than other states because we get money from derivation. The money we have used to tar roads, build schools and all the big things that people are seeing in our state is from derivation. You see, when we talk of derivation, some people assume that the oil come from their backyard alone. But the truth is that oil comes from a lot of places in Delta State."
It was funny at the time the derivation money to be given out, you know there was crises in various communities, the governor went round. At our meeting with the people from Delta North at Ogwashi-Uku, they tried to prove to us that they are also part of the derivation and they had their own argument that the exploration and exploitation of oil affects their community.
"Delta is a complex state, people should not just assume that all the money will be used for a particular community because oil comes from there," he added.
