TheNewsGuru

Tag: Delta Assembly

  • Gov. Okowa submits name of commissioner nominee to Delta Assembly

    Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta has forwarded to the State House of Assembly the name of Mr Joseph Utomi, for appointment as Commissioner and member of the State Executive Council.

    A letter stating the name of the nominee was read during plenary of the Assembly in Asaba by the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Chief Sheriff Oborevwori.

    Okowa said that the nomination was in line with the power conferred on him by section 192, sub section 2 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    Receiving the letter for consideration, the Majority Leader of the Assembly, Mr Tim Owhefere, moved the motion which was seconded by the lawmaker representing Aniocha South Constituency in the state Assembly, Ms Angela Nwaka.

    Consequently, the motion was unanimously adopted by the Assembly when put to a voice vote by the speaker.

    The speaker directed the nominee to submit 35 copies of his curriculum vitae to the office of the Clerk of the House and also appear before the Assembly for screening and confirmation on Nov. 13.

    The nominee is a former Council Chairman of Aniocha South Local Government Area of the state.

     

  • Delta Assembly expresses concern over irregularities in MDAs budgets

    The Delta House of Assembly on Wednesday expressed concern over irregularities in the documentations of budget performances of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the state.

    The Chairman House Committee on Commerce and Industry, Mr Festus Okoh, made the remark during 2019 budget defence meeting with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Asaba.

    Okoh observed that the figures presented before the committee on personnel expenditure of the ministry were not congruent with that of the state government.

    He therefore, stressed the need for the commissioner in charge of the ministry and her team to go back and effect the necessary corrections in the documents earlier presented to the committee.

    Earlier, the Commissioner, Mrs Mary Iyasere, had commended the committee for the opportunity provided to the ministry to defend its 2019 budget proposal.

    Iyasere agreed that the figures presented were wrong and apologised and promised to effect necessary corrections.

    The Executive Secretary, State Micro Credit, Mrs Shimite Bello, who also appeared before the committee, suffered the same fate as the relevant documents for the budget defence were not readily available.

    The Chairman of the committee directed the officials to go back and perfect their documents for proper presentation.

     

  • Okowa presents N367bn 2019 budget proposal to Delta Assembly

    Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta on Wednesday presented a budget estimate of N367.09 billion for the 2019 fiscal year to the State House of Assembly for approval.
    Presenting the budget christened, “Budget of Sustainable Growth,” Okowa said it was made up of N157.09 billion and N209.99 billion Recurrent and Capital Expenditures respectively.
    The proposed budget is N58.20 billion higher than the 2018 budget of N308.88.
    According to the governor, the 2019 recurrent expenditure is higher than that of 2018 by N9.823 billion
    “The proposed capital estimate for 2019 is N209 billion is N48.3 billion or 29.9 per cent higher than that of 2018 capital budget of N161.6 billion,” he stated.
    He said that in order to achieve the proposed target, government would intensify enforcement of appropriate tax legislation to increase the tax base to N73.4 billion annually.
    Okowa said that the budget would be funded through an expected statutory allocation of N217.89 billion, a Value Added Tax, (VAT) of N13.05 billion and other capital receipts of N62.73 billion.
    The governor highlighted other sources of funding for the proposed budget to include Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N73.4 billion, representing 20.77 per cent of the total projected revenue.
    A breakdown of the budget showed that N79.6 billion was allocated for roads, N2.9 billion for agriculture, N3.9 billion for sports development and N1.1 billion for jobs creation.
    Water resources got N1.6 billion with health and education getting N8.6 billion and N26.8 billion respectively.
    “We have christened it a budget of sustainable growth, because the year 2018 witnessed a significant improvement in our revenue receipt; it is our hope that this trend is sustained in 2019.
    “Our expenditure profile from January to June, 2018, showed that N66.5 billion was spent on recurrent items as against a proportionate approved budget of N73.7 billion, representing a budget performance of 94.4 per cent.
    “Also, N161.6 billion was budgeted for capital expenditure in the same period, with N38.6 billion spent as against N80.8 billion, representing a performance of 47.8 per cent,” he said.
    The governor said though capital expenditure performance was not a true reflection of performance, better performance was being expected in the third and the fourth quarters of 2018.
    “The first three budgets of this administration were largely centered on charting five main pathways critical to actualising our reform agenda of job and wealth creation.
    “The proposed 2019 budget will consolidate, expand and deepen the process as we pursue our transformation goal of building a strong diversified and inclusive economy,” he said.
    Receiving the budget proposal, the Speaker, Sheriff Oborevwori, lauded its timely presentation.
    Oborevwori assured the people of the state that the legislature would do justice to the proposal and give it accelerated passage.
     

  • Delta Assembly approves appointment of 2 nominees

    The Delta House of Assembly on Wednesday screened and approved nominees for appointment of chairman and secretary of the State Bureau of Local Government Pensions.

    The screening and approval of the nominees followed a motion moved by the Majority Leader of the Assembly, Mr Tim Owhefere, and was seconded by Mr Daniel Yingi, representing Burutu I Constituency in the Assembly, during plenary in Asaba.

    The motion for the approval of the nominees for the appointments was unanimously adopted by the Assembly, when it was put to voice vote by the Speaker, Chief Sheriff Oborevwori.

    Mr Benjamin Igo, a retired Permanent Secretary is to be chairman, while Dr Frank Atube, former Director of Personnel Management, got the nod as secretary.

    Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta had earlier sent the names of the nominees to the House of Assembly for screening and approval.

    The Assembly also adjourned plenary until Sept. 25.

     

  • Delta Assembly approves extension of tenure of DESOPADEC board

    The Delta Assembly has approved Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa’s request for the extension of the tenure of the current board of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) by six months.

    The approval of the request followed the motion moved by the Majority Leader, Tim Owhefere, which was seconded by Mrs. Erhiatake Ibori-Suenu (PDP-Ethiope West).

    The motion was unanimously adopted when the Speaker, Sheriff Oborevwori, put it to a voice vote.

    Oborevwori had earlier read the governor’s letter in which he said that the current governing board of DESOPADEC expired on Monday.

    Okowa said that the request for the board’s tenure extension was in line with Section 7 (2b) of the DESOPADEC Amendment Law, 2018, praying the assembly to approve it by six months.

    The assembly also received another letter from the governor, nominating, Mr. Benjamin Igo and Dr. Frank Atube, for appointment as Chairman and Secretary, Delta Bureau of Local Government Pension, respectively.

    Igo retired as a Permanent Secretary from the state civil service.

    Consequently, the Speaker directed the nominees to submit 35 copies of their Curriculum Vitae to the office of the Clerk of the House, and appear for screening on Thursday.

     

  • Delta approves $1bn from ECA to FG as Gov. Okowa takes leave

    Delta State House of Assembly has approved and authorized the Federal Government to deduct the State’s share of the sum of one billion dollars from the Excess Crude Account for the procurement of military equipment for the fight against insurgency and other security challenges in the country.

    TheNewsGuru reports the approval was sequel to a motion to that effect move by Majority Leader of the House, Hon Tim Owhefere, who was seconded by Hon Johnson Erijo.

    The approval followed a request by the State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa in a letter to the House, read at plenary by the Speaker, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori.

    Governor Okowa in the letter informed the House of the Federal government plans to deduct the sum of one billion dollars from the Excess Crude Account for the procurement of military equipment to support the Armed Forces in its operations in fighting insurgency and other security challenges.

    He said procedurally, in addition to the approval of the National Assembly, the concurrent approval of the Houses of Assembly in the thirty six states of the federation was expected to be sought and obtained to facilitate the deduction from the Excess Crude Account.

    Governor Okowa noted that it would be useful for the resolution of the House to capture that the thirteen per cent derivation component accruable to Delta State as its share of the one billion dollars should be remitted to the State.

    The Majority Leader, who move the motion for the adoption of the approval, debated that security was classified hence discussions are not done in the open in order not to avoid compromise.

    The request was, thereafter, approved following a voice vote by the Speaker.

    Also at plenary, the Speaker welcomed members back from the two weeks break saying that all hands must be on deck to actualise legislative responsibility to the people.

    He said the fourth session of the sixth assembly commenced on the 19th of June, 2018 adding that there were a number of bills which were not concluded at the previous session hence the need to conclude them at the earliest possible time.

    The Speaker thanked members for the speedy passage of the Delta State Public and Private Properties Protection Bill and thanked the lawmakers for their continuous support to the leadership of the House.

    Oborevwori on behalf of members and staff of the Assembly, congratulated the State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa who celebrated his 59th birthday on Sunday, July 8, 2018 and wished him good health.

    Meanwhile, the State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa will proceed on a two weeks annual vacation from Friday 13th July to Wednesday 25th July 2018.

    The Speaker read a letter from the State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa to the House titled “Notice of Vacation”

    According to the letter, Governor Okowa said the twelve days leave will form part of his 2018 annual vacation.

    He said he will resume the function of Governor on Wednesday, 25th July, 2018 while the remaining part of his annual vacation will be enjoyed later in the year.

    Governor Okowa said in accordance with section 190 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, the Deputy Governor, Barrister Kingsley Otuaro would perform the duties of his office as Acting Governor during the period of his leave.

     

  • Asaba township stadium: Delta Assembly approves Okowa’s N1.9bn request

    The Delta House of Assembly on Tuesday approved the request of N1.9 billion for the completion of Asaba township stadium brought to it by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

    The request of the governor was contained in a letter read during the plenary of the Assembly in Asaba by the Speaker of the House, Chief Sheriff Oborevwori.

    Okowa said that in spite of the huge investment on the ongoing Asaba township project which was inherited from his predecessors, the project was yet to be completed.

    He said that his administration was determined to complete the project, adding that the project, when completed would boost sports activities in the state.

    The governor said that the contract was awarded at the cost of N1.9 billion with a completion period of four months ending in December 2017, based on the contractor’s finance arrangement.

    Okowa said that the state government would make payment to the contractor for a period of 18 months through an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO).

    According to Okowa, the State Executive Council at its 10th meeting which was held on June 20 and June 21 had approved the funding approach and issuance of the Irrevocable Standing Payment Order ISPO subject to the ratification of the State House of Assembly.

    Okowa, therefore, solicited for the support of the assembly for speedy completion of the project.

    Consequently, the Majority Leader of the Assembly, Mr Tim Owhefere, who moved a motion for the House to receive the letter for further consideration said the letter was of necessity as it would further promote sports development in the state.

    He said that the state government was looking at alternative ways of funding projects in spite of the paucity of funds which should be encouraged.

    The motion was unanimously adopted when put to a voice vote by the speaker.

     

    NAN

  • Delta Assembly passes 18 bills in 12 months – Speaker

    Delta Assembly passes 18 bills in 12 months – Speaker

    The 6th Assembly of the Delta House of Assembly says out of the 34 bills received in the last 12 months, it passed 18.

    The Speaker of the Assembly, Chief Sheriff Oborevwori announced this while briefing newsmen on the activities of the assembly as it marks its second anniversary on Thursday in Asaba.

    Oborevwori said that out of the 18 bills passed by the assembly, 12 of them had received assent by Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa, while the remaining six were waiting for his assent.

    He said that some of the bills, which had been assented to by the governor included the Delta State Economic Planning Council Amendment Law, 2015 and the Delta State Advisory Council on the Prerogative of Mercy Law.

    Oborevwori said that the Delta State Anti-kidnapping and Hostage bill was also passed into law.

    He said that bills awaiting the governor’s assent included the Delta state agency for control of HIV/AIDS Bill, 2016 and the Delta State Bureau for Lands Instrument Preparation Charges Bill.

    Oborevwori assured the governor that the assembly would continue to maintain a cordial working relationship with the executive arm of government.

    He further assured the people of the state of the assembly’s readiness to improve on its performance as it commenced the third legislative year.

    Oborevwori said that the remaining 16 bills, which had not been passed by the house, were at various committee stages.

    The Speaker assured people of the state that the assembly would continue to do that which was expected of them as lawmakers.

    “We are aware that the people of the state are looking forward to the delivery of more dividends of democracy and it is in our place to make it happen.

    “Despite the harsh economic situation which has affected service delivery, the assembly remains committed to providing effective representation to our constituencies,’’ he said.

    Oborevwori said that in the next parliamentary year, the house would ensure that it retained its focus and engage in deliberations and matters that would improve the fortune of the state.