From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Bayelsa State Government has again declared that it has nothing to hide from Bayelsans regarding the funds accrued to the state from the Federal Government.
The Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Mr Ayibana Duba who stated this during the monthly transparency briefing for the month of September and October said the Governor Douye Diri led administration responsibility is to ensure the funds are judiciously used for the development of the state.
According to him the state government has been consistent in giving updates of funds accrued to the state through its finance team.
Speaking on behalf of the finance team, Technical Adviser to the Governor on Treasury and Accounts, Mr Timipre Seipulo disclosed that the state government has received N90billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) as at October 2022.
Seipulo clarified that contrary to what is being speculated in some quarters, funds from the ECA was paid quarterly from the Federation Account and not monthly as being speculated in some quarters.
According to him the state government had a net receipt of N20.24bn for September 2022 which accrued to the state government from the Federation Account Allocation Committee while total FAAC deductions stood at N1.592bn.
Seipulou also announced N27.561bn net receipt for October 2022 and N1.6bn as total FAAC deductions.
“Now it will be necessary to remind ourselves with this conscientious excess inflow which we have continued to report in the state. In all our transparency briefings we have been mentioning that when necessary.
“For this month, what is received from that account is N13.8 billion but actually like what they have said before ‘the refund which a lot of people have talked about’ is not a monthly payment, it’s a quarterly payment and paid over 36 months.
“The money is paid over 36 months which is three years, so hardly three tripping months you will have about 13 billion at place by the state and for us in Bayelsa state we will continue to report it in our transparency briefings. As at now, the net received from the fund so far is N90 billion up to October.
“And if you look at the major projects we have also done, we have done quite some major projects which, we are utilizing the funds and the major ones for instance the Yenagoa-Oporoma road which the state has spent over N12 billion, we have the Igbogene-AIT road which we have spent over N19 billion payment, not contract amount, because the contract amount are far more than this. But we have actually disbursed over 100 billion to the contractors.”
Seipulo also said that the government garnered the sum of N2.651 billion as internally generated revenue (IGR) for the month of September 2022.