Former Chairman of Warri South Local Government Area, Michael Tidi, has faulted claims that the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission was denied budgetary funding under Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, saying official state budget documents contradict the allegation.
Tidi, who is currently in Canada, spoke in a WhatsApp interview with the Daily Independent while reacting to comments by Swill Mavua on DESOPADEC and the management of derivation funds.
The former council chairman said concerns by oil-producing communities over development, accountability and the use of resources meant for them were legitimate, but warned against presenting political claims and calculations as established facts.
He said the controversy should instead be examined through the commission’s enabling law, government financial records and verifiable evidence.
“There is a difference between asking legitimate questions and manufacturing conclusions. There is an even greater difference between political rhetoric and established fact,” Tidi said.
He specifically challenged the claim that N277.73bn was statutorily owed to DESOPADEC, arguing that the figure could not be established simply by calculating 50 per cent of the state’s derivation receipts.
According to him, the relevant law, actual derivation figures and accounting procedures must first be established before any amount can be described as an outstanding statutory obligation.
“A calculator can produce a figure; it cannot interpret a statute,” he said, adding that appropriation, release, transfer and expenditure represented different stages of public financial management.
Tidi, who previously worked as a pioneer senior staff member of DESOPADEC and served as media assistant to former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa before becoming Warri South chairman, also disputed the claim that the commission had no budgetary allocation under the present administration.
He said Delta’s published budget documents showed N40bn was allocated to DESOPADEC in 2024, while N65bn and N80bn were provided in the approved 2025 and 2026 budgets respectively.
He also cited the state’s first-quarter 2025 budget performance report, which he said recorded N5.5988bn in expenditure against the N65bn provision for DESOPADEC.
“Whatever legitimate debate there may be about adequacy, releases, implementation or outcomes, the claim that there was simply ‘no budget line’ cannot survive the published record,” he said.
Tidi, however, acknowledged that budgetary provisions alone did not settle questions about the adequacy of funding, actual releases or the impact of DESOPADEC projects on oil-producing communities.
He also rejected the description of the Oborevwori administration as operating in secrecy over the commission, arguing that budget documents, appropriation laws, fiscal reports and other public records provided a basis for scrutiny.
On the reported N8.4bn payment to settle inherited contractor liabilities, Tidi said the settlement should not be interpreted as an admission of wrongdoing by the present administration.
“If the contracts were irregular, the evidence should establish that. If the liabilities were fraudulent, the evidence should establish that,” he said.
He similarly dismissed claims that DESOPADEC had become a “political settlement centre”, insisting that allegations of unlawful appointments, procurement breaches or diversion of resources should be backed by specific evidence.
Tidi said concerns raised by groups including HOSTCOM, Itsekiri leaders and traditional rulers deserved attention, but cautioned against treating stakeholder complaints as equivalent to audit reports or judicial findings.
“A stakeholder complaint is not an audit report, just as a political statement is not a judicial finding,” he stated.
The former council chairman also criticised attempts to link the DESOPADEC debate to the political relationship between Oborevwori and Okowa, describing such arguments as unnecessary distractions from issues of law, public finance and institutional accountability.
He said DESOPADEC predated both administrations and its challenges had persisted across successive governments, adding that the records of both the former and current administrations should be assessed independently.
As the 2027 elections draw closer, Tidi urged politicians and stakeholders to maintain factual discipline when discussing DESOPADEC and the development of oil-producing communities.
“DESOPADEC is too important to be reduced to campaign arithmetic, and the legitimate expectations of oil-producing communities are too serious to be turned into political ammunition,” he said.
He added, “The opposition is entitled to ask questions. It is not entitled to manufacture answers. A calculation is not a debt, an inherited liability is not a confession, a complaint is not an audit finding, and a published budget cannot honestly be described as no budget.”
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