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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