The Bayelsa State Government on Monday accounted for the N107 million
increase in its February wage bill, saying it was due to payment of
salaries to the 1000 newly employed civil servants.
The Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah (Retd) gave the
explanation during the state monthly transparency briefing for the months
of January and February 2019 in Government House, Yenagoa.
He said the state government spent N2.82billion in the payment of civil
servants salaries for last month as against N2.72 billion in January this
year.
Rear Admiral John Jonah also explained that the difference of N3.7billion
in capital payments within the period was as a result of more work done on
various ongoing capital projects in the state.
The Deputy Governor, who announced N2.7billion as capital payment for
January, and N6.4billion for February, noted that payment for such
projects are usually determined by the extent of work carried out on them.
His words, “Yes, there is an increase or a difference between the capital
expenditure of January and February 2019. If you put your mind to the
number of projects we are doing, the difference is actually a small money.
“And for any person that has a fair knowledge of project management, you
know that payments are done based on certificates presented to you on the
extent of work carried out.
“As you all know, we are working on the Ekeremor Road. And for the fact
that we drove to Ekeremor, doesn’t mean we’ve paid to that extent. We are
also on the Central Senatorial Road going to Oporoma. We are also trying
to complete the Onopa Bridge.
” All these are outstanding jobs that we regularly pay. But you don’t
expect the work rate to be the same every month. So is the amount paid. It
doesn’t follow any linear arrangement.”
Rear Admiral John Jonah who acknowledged the receipt of N16.11 billion
from the Paris Club Refund between January and March this year, said out
of the amount N1.25billion was released to local government councils.
He disclosed that the state had a gross inflow of N12.3billion from the
Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) for January while that of
last month stood at N13.2billion.
The deputy governor however explained that Net FAAC inflow dipped to
N10.7billion for January as against N11.6billion in February after first
line FAAC deductions of N1.54bn were made for each month.
He also announced N968million as internally generated revenue (IGR) for
December 2018 while that of January this year was put at N1.09billion.
Earlier in his remarks, the Commissioner for Information and Orientation,
Mr Daniel Iworiso-Markson, urged media practitioners to show more sense of
responsibility and responsiveness in fighting against the ills of society
through their reports.
In an emotion-laden voice, the Commissioner lamented the brutal murder of
the Government House Photographer, Mr Reginald Dei, and other victims of
the onslaught allegedly perpetrated by military personnel in the last
general elections.
Mr Iworiso-Markson stressed the need for newsmen to posthumously show
solidarity with their slain colleague by covering and effectively
reporting proceedings of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry on the
violence and killings that marred the elections in some parts of the
state.
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