From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Bayelsa State Government has declared that all projects in the state are ongoing in line with the commitment of Governor Douye Diri’s administration to ensure no project is stalled.
The Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Mr Ayibaina Duba, who stated this during the Transparency Briefing for the month of March and April, noted that in spite of dwindling income from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), the state government has kept up to date with its financial obligations towards ongoing projects.
In the income and expenditure profile presented by the state Commissioner for Finance, Mr Maxwell Ebibai said total receipts for February less FAAC deductions stood at N22.472 billion and total recurrent expenditure was N21.292 billion.
The state, however, had a closing balance of N9.863 billion for February due to the balance brought forward from January, which Ebibai said was “our positive closing balance as of the end of February.”
According to him, in March, Bayelsa also had a negative balance of N5.975 billion, which was only made good by the balance brought forward from February leaving a closing balance of N3.887 billion.
Ebibai disclosed that the government set aside a billion Naira for the payment of gratuities in February due to available funds.
He explained that due to Governor Diri’s concern for the plight of senior citizens of the state who had served the state meritoriously, he approved for the N1 billion to ensure that more people are captured in the payment of gratuities in recognition of their invaluable service to the state.