The Chairman of the Delta State House of Assembly Committee on Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC), Hon. Dennis Omovie, has said that the State House of Assembly is not aware of the existence of DESOPADEC budget for 2016,

He also described as laughable reports that the Speaker has already signed the purported 2016 DESOPADEC budget into law.

“The speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Monday Igbuya does not have as part of his duties the signing of budget to law. It is strictly the responsibility of the governor to sign budget into law. It is also a statement of fact that the speaker is not privy to the formulation of budgetary allocation to various agencies of government until the state governor forwards same to the House. It is most laughable for anybody or institution to ascribe to the speaker the responsibility of signing DESOPADEC budget into law,” he said.

Hon. Omovie, the member representing Warri South Constituency 11 in the Delta State House of Assembly, therefore advised journalists not to overheat the polity.

“There is a level of responsibility from members of the public especially the fourth estate of the realm. The fact that there is paucity of fund should not make certain people to throw caution to the wind. The process of budgeting should be known to the press. These processes are well laid out in the laws governing the day to day running of the state. Members of the press and the public are therefore advised to always verify and authenticate their sources of information before going to the press,” he said.

He urged Deltans at home and abroad to ignore the sensational reports by a section of the press.

“Deltans,” Hon. Omovie said, “can be rest assured that there is no cause for alarm and that when the DESOPADEC budget comes to the House of Assembly, it will not be a secret affair. We apologise to Deltans for any inconvenience caused.”

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