Clark said the revelations prompted him to confront Okowa, through a letter, to account for the funds.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Former federal commissioner of information, Edwin Clark, has accused the ex-governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, of misappropriating over N1 trillion of the 13 per cent oil derivation fund for the state.
The fund comes from the federation account to oil-producing communities through state governments as contained in section 162 (2) of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as amended).
During an appearance on Arise TV’s The Morning Show on Wednesday, the Niger Delta leader said he and others had been blaming the federal government for the lack of development in the South-South without knowing that the governors in the region have been “stealing the money” for the region’s development.
Last year, Garba Shehu, the spokesperson to then President Muhammadu Buhari, released details of the oil derivation funds released to nine oil-producing states, with Delta State said to have received the highest allocation totalling N296.63 billion.
Clark said the revelations prompted him to confront Okowa, through a letter, to account for the funds.
“He (Okowa) said he had been spending the money. The answer they gave me was that they spent N5 billion on paying pensioners. How does that come under 13 per cent?” He said.
“And they also spent the money building a university in Okowa’s village.”
The former federal commissioner said he was dissatisfied with the former governor’s response and had to hire a lawyer who obtained, from the accountant general’s office, the certified copy of all the derivation funds paid to the state from 2007 to December 2022.
“The one paid to Delta State came to N1.767 trillion,” he said.
Clark said the law establishing the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) noted that 50 per cent of the 13 per cent should be given to the DESOPADEC. However, the governor held the whole funds.
DESOPADEC is an interventionist agency established to manage a 13 per cent oil derivation fund to drive infrastructural development of the oil-producing communities in the state.
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“Instead of paying 50 per cent (of the N1.760 trillion) to the DESOPADEC as provided by the law, which is automatic, he (Okowa) now held the 13 per cent fund- the entire money, dishing out instalmentally and approving every contract the DESOPADEC had awarded,” he said.
Clark said he wrote a second letter to Okowa and also copied the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) complaining that the governor had floated a private commercial bank, Premium Bank, which he allegedly used to lodge all the derivation funds.
“I also mentioned in the letter that he (Okowa) has 13 companies. I told him he put the 13 per cent (derivation funds) into these 13 companies and let him deny it.
“So, Okowa has embezzled our money. It’s not even accounted for in his annual budget,” Clark stated, pointing out that embezzlement had made some governors wealthier than their states.
He did not, however, mention if the EFCC responded to his letter.