BY ANDREW IKEHI
The Delta State House of Assembly (DTHA) has given a thumbs up to the State Governor, Rt.Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori for what it described as the Governor’s Strong Financial Management prowess in the governance of the State.
The commendation, The Pointer reports, was sequel to the adoption of the observations, findings and recommendation of the Hon. Marylyn Okowa-Daramola-led committee on Finance and Appropriation on the 2025 appropriation bill as presented on the floor of the House, Tuesday.
Hon. Marylyn Okowa-Daramola in the report as adopted, lauded what she described as the fiscal discipline and efficient cost control measures adopted by the current government in the State.
The measure, the lawmaker and member representing Ika North-East State Constituency stated, had within the past nine months, resulted in the substantial reduction of N160.9 of the State’s debt stock from N465.3 Billion at the inception of the Rt. Hon. Oborevwori’s administration.
The fiscal feat, according to Okowa-Daramola, has reduced the state’s debt profile to N303.4 Billion currently as against the N465.3 Billion at the inception of the current administration.
According to her, “A review of the economic and fiscal outlook in the year 2024 revealed that the State fared well in the first Nine months of 2024.
“This was achieved through the entrenchment of strong financial management systems which ultimately provided effective revenue mobilisation and the efficient utilisation of the resources in priority expenditure areas of this administration.
“Also commendable is that the State witnessed a substantial reduction of N160.9 Billion in its debt stock from N465.3 Billion at the inception of this administration to N303.4 Billion currently.
“This was made possible through fiscal discipline and efficient cost control measures” Hon. Okowa-Daramola said in the report.
In an interview with journalists shortly after the presentation of the report and the subsequent passage of the 2025 appropriation bill, the lawmaker advanced reasons for the upward review of the proposed budget from the initial sum of N936 Billion as presented by the state Governor, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori to the approved N979.2 Billion
According to her, the upward review was aimed at scaling up road infrastructure, particularly in the rural, semi-urban and riverine areas of the State.
She said, “You would recall that one of the priority focus of the State Governor, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori is infrastructural development. Just like the Governor, we the lawmakers have seen the need to spend more on capital infrastructure across the three senatorial districts of the State.
“This upward review is mostly seen in the economic sector where we have both the rural and urban roads. We had upward review in this area in order to cater for more roads.
“The importance of raid infrastructure cannot be overemphasized. We added more to the Ministry of Riverine infrastructure because, we saw the need for more connectivity even in the Riverine areas. Same applies to the ministry of Urban Renewal” Okowa-Daramola said.
