Delta Reforms Target 100,000 Residents With ₦5bn

The Delta State Government says its ongoing economic reforms and empowerment programmes are helping to strengthen residents’ purchasing power, support small businesses and stimulate economic activity at the grassroots.

The Commissioner for Works (Rural Roads) and Public Information, Charles Aniagwu, disclosed this on Friday during a press briefing in Asaba, explaining that the administration of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori was focused on ensuring that the benefits of its economic measures reached residents, particularly low-income earners and operators of nano and small businesses.

As part of the empowerment drive, councillors across the state have been directed to support 200 residents in each ward. With about 500 wards in Delta State, the initiative is expected to reach at least 100,000 people and inject approximately ₦5 billion directly into the grassroots economy.

Aniagwu said the intervention was designed to help small businesses remain viable, expand their operations and increase the capacity of residents to participate in local economic activities.

The commissioner also disclosed that political and community leaders had complemented the government’s intervention with additional empowerment programmes and financial contributions.

He cited Ika North-East as an example, where community and political leaders contributed at least ₦5 million in each federal ward, resulting in an additional injection of about ₦70 million into the local economy, separate from funds being provided through the councillors’ empowerment initiative.

Aniagwu explained that strengthening purchasing power was essential to attracting and retaining investment, noting that businesses would naturally seek locations where residents had the financial capacity to purchase goods and services.

He said improving the economic capacity of rural communities could therefore help spread investment and business opportunities beyond major urban centres across the state.

The commissioner also linked the state’s interventions to broader improvements in its finances, saying increased fiscal capacity had enabled the government to mobilise contractors, meet salary and other obligations and improve the regularity of payments to workers and pensioners.

According to him, contractors can now be mobilised with payments of up to 40 per cent, while workers’ salaries and emoluments are being paid between the 22nd and 25th of every month. He also said pensioners no longer have to queue at Government House to receive their payments.

Aniagwu further pointed to the relative stability of academic activities in Delta State-owned universities as another indication of the state’s improved financial position.

He said the administration’s reforms were aimed at strengthening government finances while ensuring that public resources were used to support infrastructure, workers, businesses and vulnerable residents.

The state government has also backed a bill providing for a 13th-month salary for public servants. Aniagwu said the measure, once assented to by the governor, would form part of the administration’s broader efforts to increase disposable income and stimulate economic activity.

He maintained that interventions aimed at increasing residents’ purchasing power were intended to stimulate consumption, support businesses and create conditions capable of attracting further investment into Delta State.

The government’s latest empowerment drive therefore combines direct support for residents with wider economic measures, as the state seeks to increase household purchasing power and strengthen economic activity at the community level.

With the planned beneficiaries spread across the state’s wards, the administration says the initiative is expected to take economic support closer to residents and provide additional capacity for small businesses to survive and grow.