Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta on Tuesday requested the State Assembly to approve N20.9 billion bailout loan released by the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The request was contained in a letter from the governor to the House read on Tuesday at plenary by the Speaker Mr Monday Igbuya.
Okowa explained that out of the figure, N10.9 billion would be used for the settlement of outstanding arrears of salaries and pensions, while the remaining N10 billion would be utilised for funding of capital projects.
He said the government was saddled with backlog of salary arrears of workers and pension commitments.
He said that the backlog of salary arrears was as a result of the continuous decline in the state revenue from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), occasioned by dwindling prices of oil.
He explained that the request to approach the Federal Government for the bailout was approved by the State Executive Council and appealed to the lawmakers to grant the request.
The motion for adoption of the governor’s request was moved by the Majority Leader, Mr Tim Owhefere and seconded by Mr Oboro Preyor, representing Bomadi constituency.
The motion was unanimously adopted by the House,
In a related development, the House on Tuesday received the names of nominees for appointment as Director-General and Directors of the State Direct Labour Agency (DLA) for screening and confirmation.
The names of the nominees were forwarded to the House for confirmation and approval by Okowa.
The nominees are: Mr Frank Enekorogha as Director-General, Mr Smert Meka, Blessing Enamuotor and Mr Austin Bebteidor as Directors.
The Speaker directed the nominees to submit 35 copies of their credentials to the office of the Clerk of the House on or before Sept. 15.