Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has said his government would take things slowly and carefully as Covid-19 takes its toll on the global oil market.
There are fears that with the crash in global oil price as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, the monthly federal allocation to states will be affected and states could find it difficult implementing their 2020 budgets.
Responding to questions on Thursday at the 2020 Quarterly Media Interaction at Government House, Asaba, Okowa said efforts would be made to execute ongoing projects without rushing unnecessarily into new ones.
“We have challenges in the area of implementing the 2020 budget because of the current crisis in the global oil prices.
“We’ll await the new oil benchmark to determine what likely revenue allocation we’ll get.
“‘Our 2020 budget is definitely threatened. but we’ll be careful until the situation improves,” he noted.
Okowa disclosed that with the Coronavirus debacle, there’s a huge threat to the state’s capital expenditure, saying Coronavirus is impacting dangerously on the global economy.
He expressed fears of the state being plunged into 2016 economic recess, when funding was a problem, reiterating that “we have to slow down and be mindful of how we award contracts.
“We will be careful and watch the global economy and manage the situation,” the governor affirmed.
On further measures to take to manage the situation, Gov Okowa said his government would encourage contractors with ongoing jobs but slow down I’m initiating new ones, praying that soon the deadly virus would be contained soon.