₦6.5 Billion on cars? Delta needs a Reset!

Deltans, I have just finished reading our own government’s budget performance report for January to June 2026. What I saw there is why I keep saying—it is time to RESET Delta State.

According to the report published by SaharaReporters, in just six months:

• Governor Sheriff’s administration spent ₦6.556 billion to buy 260 vehicles: 50 Toyota SUVs, 60 Hilux, 150 Corollas.
• Governor Sheriff’s administration spent ₦15.36 billion just to pay public debt charges.
• Out of that debt, ₦5.1 billion was just interest, ₦8.4 billion was principal repayment, and ₦661 million was foreign interest.

And that ₦6.5 billion for cars is only half! Governor Sheriff’s full car budget this year is “N12.923 billion”.So Governor Sheriff still wants to spend another ₦6.3 billion before December.

For whom is this government working?

This is exactly why our RESET mantra matters.

What does RESET mean? When I said it on Independence Day, I said it clearly:

A man who cannot feed his family is not independent. A young graduate who has no job is not independent. A mother who cannot take her child to hospital because there is no hospital is not independent.

We see a rich state, but our people are poor. We see a state that has received more money from FAAC allocation, yet our schools don’t produce quality output. Our children are still exposed to poor Government attention to Education. Our hospitals are not hospitals. They are just buildings.

That is why I said: Delta doesn’t need another Thanksgiving speech. What Delta needs is a RESET, a RESET to transparency, industrialization, real job creation, and a government that publishes its accounts and respects the people’s trust.

Look at this car purchase and tell me where the transparency is. The report lists 260 vehicles but doesn’t even break down how much each SUV costs or how much each Hilux costs. Who are the beneficiaries of this wastefulness? Most of Governor Sheriff’s appointees complain daily that they can’t work properly because they lack logistical support. Yet, the Government wastes resources buying cars and dumping them in the transportation pool. Could the wasteful spending on cars be for campaign purposes? That is not transparency.

Look at this debt: ₦15.36 billion in six months to pay old debts, yet Governor Sheriff consistently lied that Delta State wasn’t in Debt, incurred mainly by the past administration of Former Governor Okowa. While our four ports—Warri, Koko, Sapele, Burutu—remain dead. Those four ports alone can give 50,000 jobs to our youths. That is industrialisation. That is what we mean by RESET.

They keep saying alignment with the Federal Government is good. Alignment for what? To buy SUVs? To pay debts? Where is the alignment that brings Warri Port back to life?

I acknowledged that Governor Oborevwori increased the minimum wage to ₦77,500. But what is ₦77,500 when you are paying ₦6.5 billion for cars in one quarter? Inflation has already eaten that wage. That is why I said, “Patriotism is not a sermon.”It is a job. Governor Sheriff is a hypocrite. It is a working port. It is a working hospital.

If I had ₦6.5 billion today, I would not buy 50 SUVs.

I would bring back the dead companies in Delta. I would equip our technical colleges with qualified teachers and vocational equipment, not just build schools as a mantra to make cronies richer. I would put quality in our schools so they produce real results.

We cannot continue like this. *Democracy is not just elections. It is clean water in our dear state. It is good roads across Delta State. It is schools where our children can get quality Education, not just shabby infrastructure. It is hospitals with adequate health facilities and quality personnel.

As I have stated many times, trust between the current Government and our people in Delta State is low.

Deacon Chris Iyovwaye
Governorship Candidate, Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) 2027