Diri faults insolvent status, calls for true federalism

From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri has faulted the Annual States Viability Index (ASVI) report by Economic Confidential, an Intelligence Magazine which declared that Bayelsa was among insolvent states in Nigeria.

The report signed by Managing Director of Economic Confidential, Abdulrahman Abdulraheem listed Bayelsa among the states that may not survive without federal allocation.

However Diri criticising the report during the State Executive Council meeting declared that only the practice of true federalism and restructuring of Nigeria can determine the real viability of states.

Diri in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, noted that Diri questioned objectivity of the report because it used only federal allocation and internally generated revenue to determine a state’s viability without considering how their resources were being expropriated by the federal government.

According to him, Bayelsa was not financially insolvent and that such reports can only come from those he described as “prophets of doom.”

He noted that with its huge oil resources, Bayelsa is supposed to be one of the richest states but that the lopsided federalism in practice in the country had deprived it from controlling its resources and natural wealth.

Diri described as unacceptable the situation where states’ resources were being taken by the government at the centre, leaving the subnationals to depend on monthly allocation.

He said: “The prophets of doom will always make predictions that Bayelsa State is insolvent and I think they need to stop those predictions.

“We have called for a true and structured federalism. One of the richest states in Nigeria in terms of resources is Bayelsa. By no means will anybody convince me that our state is insolvent.

“We have been saying return our resources to us and let us compare what Bayelsa has with other states and see if we are one of those that cannot generate internal revenue.

“Now we depend on federal allocation where our resources have been expropriated, taken to Abuja and shared to other states. And you call us a poor state. That has to stop.”