The Minister of -Niger Delta Affairs, Dr Stephen Oru, Monday, denied
donating N2bn of the ministry’s funds to the presidential campaign of
President Goodluck Jonathan.
The minister made the denial on a
live Radio Programme monitored in Abuja, on the heels of accusations by a
group of Niger Delta youths sponsored to Isreal by the Niger Delta
Affairs ministry for training in agriculture.
The youths had
accused the ministry of not fulfilling its promises to them and that the
minister dismissed their appeals to him with the excuse that he used N2
billion for the president’s campaign and so does not have money.
Dismissing the allegation, Oru said those peddling such allegations
were only determined to tarnish his image and that of President Goodluck
Jonathan.
Speaking
on the allegation, the minister said his ministry, which was allocated
N51.6bn in the 2014 appropriation, has not received its third and fourth
allocation from the Federal Ministry of Finance, adding that this makes
it impossible for it to dole out a non-existent N2bn to the PDP
presidential campaign.
The minister said the financial situation
of the ministry was terrible with huge debts pilling up and months of
unpaid salaries, adding that he had only collected three months salaries
since he resumed duties in July 2014. Oru however appealed to the aggrieved trainees to be patient, as
government will disburse their take-off grants. He also assured
potential entrepreneurs that the incoming government of General
Mohammadu Buhari will not scrap the training programme as it was a
laudable project that government decided to domicile in the Niger Delta
ministry.
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