From Ochei Matthew, Asaba
The confliction between the Delta State Commissioner for Information Mr Patrick Ukah and the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the state governor, (CPS) Mr Charle Aniagwu has taken a new dimension as both officials contradicted themselves on government position on the recently sold equity of the state in its transport company, Delta Line.
Briefing journalists at Government House on Tuesday Aniagwu appeared to claim that the deal was done in order to move Delta Line forward, against the backdrop of alleged in-transparency and non-compliance with due process. He said: “Our attention has been drawn to the story going round in the media concerning Delta Line and I want state that the story is not true, it mischievous and capable of misleading Deltans
“What happen is that the state decided to sell 60% of its share and retained 40% while the company name remain Delta Line, so the statement issue last week was meant to destroy and mislead Deltans.”
But a statement issue by Ukah explained that government decision to sell part of its equity stake in Delta Transport Services Limited was because the company had become commercially unviable.
Ukah said “Because of its nonviable nature, the state government was injecting capital into the company from time to time as a way of support because of its unique position as the only government-owned and branded transport company. Government in the past invested heavily in the company through the provision of 160 brand new Toyota Hiace Buses, 76 brand new Toyota Corolla Cars and other incentives in cash or kind. Furthermore, from 2012 to April 2015, the state government released monthly palliatives to the company to mitigate the effects of fuel-price increase which occurred at that time.
According to Ukah, unlike others who benefitted from the allocation of the government buses, Delta Line never remitted any revenue to the state government. Instead the company was riddled with debts made up of salaries and wages of staff, allowances and claims of staff, contractors, and suppliers obligations.
Ukah disclosed that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), which purportedly submitted a higher bid for Delta Line but was shunned for a ridiculously lower bid by a private transport company – God Is Good – did not indicate interest at the time of advertising Delta Line equity for sale.
Ukah also claimed that the NLC did not also provide details of how it would source funds for the purchase of the shares to be sold, insisting that the entire process followed due process and a memo was forwarded to the State Executive Council accordingly.
However, the information commissioner statement did not go down well with the CPS who in a bid to countered it, said “Any information I give supersede others. Delta Line has not been able to live up to expectation in the last two years, government studied the operations of the company and came up with the resolve to sell the equity in order to ensure greater efficiency and profitability.”
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