Contractors Won’t Borrow to Execute Projects to Avoid Committing Suicide – Okowa

Delta State Governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa has said contracts for the execution of projects will be awarded based on availability of funds to avoid contractors committing suicide after borrowing for the contract and were unable to pay banks.

The Governor, who stated this in Oleh Isoko North and South local government areas of the state said: “there has been a lot of destruction of our pipelines and resources to our state is limited, we cannot award contracts when we don’t have the capacity of paying, it will be wrong for us to award contract and contractors will be borrowing money to execute the projects and at the end of the day, some will commit suicide because of their inability to pay their debts to their bankers.”

Dr. Okowa noted that his administration was committed to delivering infrastructure that will stand the test of time.

While disclosing that most of the projects his administration has executed throughout the state was as a result of proper planning culminating in the phasing of payments to the contractors, Okowa assured Deltans that his administration would continue to ensure prudent management of funds to the benefits of the people.

However, he noted that since early 2016, large quantity of crude oil has not been lifted from the state as a result of the destruction of the Forcados Export Trunkline. Dr. Okowa maintained that the economic recession that rocked the country, also, affected revenue accruing to the state government.

According to him, “the prices of oil went down and unfortunately, it is the main revenue earner for Nigeria including Delta State, so, with such, our revenue went down; apart from the revenue going down, starting from February 2016, half of the oil production in Delta State has not been exported because of the destruction of pipelines but, by the grace of God, the Forcados Trunkline will come on stream in the next few weeks which will bring about more funds to the state and we will have to also assist the local government councils.”

On the issue of herdsmen menace, Governor Okowa re-echoed his call on the Federal Government to formulate policy on the issue, and called on Deltans to be cautious as his administration was tackling the issue in conjunction with security operatives.