Bayelsa got N95b in one year, says Dickson

Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, yesterday revealed that his government has only received N95bn from the Federation Account in the last one year.
The governor made the disclosure at the 50th edition of the state’s monthly transparency briefing and the launch of transparency website, ‘Transparency Watch’ at the DSP Alamieyeseigha Memorial Banquet Hall in Yenagoa.

He said of the amount, N12bn went to the eight local councils in the state, bringing the state’s receipt to N83bn.However, Dicksopn attacked journalists operating in the state, accusing them of hiding under press freedom to work with criminal syndicates, thieves and cult leaders.

A visibly angry governor warned them not to take the hospitality of the state and his government for granted, saying his administration had neither killed nor physically attacked anybody.

The governor expressed anger over some reports in the national dailies, claiming that his administration was monitoring text messages and telephone conversations between the journalists and their paymasters.

Going by the figures reeled out by Dickson as expenditures during the period, the government spent about N111.6bn.According to him, the sum of N14.89bn was used to service bond repayments taken by former governor Timipre Sylva, while salaries of workers consumed N32.38bn.

He further said bank loans gulped about N15bn, local debts including inherited debts and overdraft N24.6bn, overhead costs for running the three arms of government N3.9bn while the sum of N20.9bn went to projects.

With the expenditure profile of about N111.7bn, the state government is in deficit of about N28bn.He disclosed that for his administration’s prudent management of resources, the state would have gone aground.

Dickson decried what he described as lopsided federal system, saying that though Bayelsa is an oil-rich state, the nation has not been fair to it.While describing the strike action by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU as one too many, the governor called on the striking lecturer of Niger Delta University to call off its indefinite strike.

“There are those who want Bayelsa to be a weeping child of the Niger Delta. Don’t instigate civil unrest because you only know how it starts but you don’t know how it would end,” he warned.