Delta State Governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, has disclosed that his administration spends about N1 billion monthly on pensions.

He made the disclosure on Wednesday at Ogwashi-Uku during town hall meetings with the people of Aniocha South Local Government Area of the state.

Okowa, who also had a town hall meeting at Issele-Uku, Aniocha North Local Government Area, said his administration spends more than N300 million monthly to settle pensioners in the old pension scheme and more than that to pay the pensions of retired civil servants who were on the contributory pension scheme.

While noting that the contributory pension scheme remains the best, the Governor said: “When we came on board two years ago, we were told that government was owing pensioners over N30 billion. We have been paying and have injected a lot of money, so, at the end of every month, for the old pension scheme and the contributory pension scheme, we pay about N1 billion on pensions alone.”

The Governor reeled out the achievements of his administration for the past two years. “We will not abandon the Ubulu-Uku road project, neither will we abandon any project. As we are constructing roads here, that is how we are constructing roads in all the local government areas of Delta State. I pray that our resources will improve for us to do more,” he said.

At Issele-Uku, Okowa stressed that his administration is committed to empowering the youths to be entrepreneurs through skill acquisition programmes.

He noted that most of the beneficiaries of the empowerment programmes have become employers of labour and contributing to the socio-economic development of the state. The Governor stated that his administration is committed to ensuring prudent management of resources to the benefits of Deltans.

Chairman of Aniocha North LGA, Hon. Chuks Oseme, thanked the Governor for the giant strides his administration has recorded within the last two years, assuring him of continual support by Deltans.

•Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa (left), and Speaker, State House of Assembly, Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, during 2017 Aniocha South Town Hall Meeting, held at Ogwachi-Uku.

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