Following reports indicating a shortfall in federal revenue allocation to
\nState, the Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson has called
\non the people of the State to brace up to the harsh economic reality of
\nthe times, noting that the allocation in the past months to the State has
\nnosedived by about N5 billion.<\/p>\n
According to a Government House statement, this situation has prompted
\nmany states to cut salary of workers in their States by half and many
\nother states cannot meet their salary obligation to civil servants and
\neven to contractors. Cross Rivers and Benue States are among states in the
\nFederation that have taken steps to cut salaries by half owing to the grim
\neconomic downturn. What is interesting to note however is that in these
\nstates nobody is complaining or seen taking to the streets in protest
\nbecause they appreciate the times that we are in and are willing to
\nsupport their respective state governments to weather the difficult times.<\/p>\n
Regrettably here in Bayelsa State should such a drastic measure be taken
\nsome unscrupulous and disgruntled politicians would have cashed in on it
\nto incite the workforce and the people to stage a mass street protest
\nagainst the government and in the process use it as a political platform
\nto heap all manner of insults and name calling on the government of the
\nday.<\/p>\n
Like every other state, Bayelsa is also experiencing a terrible shortfall
\nin its inflows and every necessary measure must be put in place to avoid a
\nsituation where it will impact seriously on the economy of the State. That
\nis why the Dickson-led government has always exercised maximum prudence
\nparticularly in granting approvals that are recurrent in nature.<\/p>\n
In view of this development, the Governor has ordered the Commissioner of
\nFinance and his team to expeditiously work out modalities to cut down on
\nthe State wage bills such as remunerations approved for parastatals and
\ntravel allowances for government functionaries including the governor.<\/p>\n
He however instructed that this should be done in such a way that we
\nshould be able to cope with the stress that has been induced by the
\nreduction in our inflows.<\/p>\n
While calling on Bayelsans to show understanding by bracing up to the
\ncurrent economic realities, Hon.Dickson said as a leader of the
\nRestoration government, he will be failing in his duty, by hiding the
\ntruth from the people and not pointing out the dangers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a duty as your governor to explain the reality of our current
\neconomic situation. It will interest you to note that from when I took the
\noath of office till now, our monthly revenue has dropped by over N5
\nbillion. So, if we are not careful to build alternative revenue sources,
\nwe will get to a point where the Federal revenue will not be enough to
\nenable us meet our minimum obligation as a State, particularly bearing in
\nmind the very high wage bill that we have in this State that is higher
\nthan that of any other state in this country.<\/p>\n
Therefore, I have directed that approvals beginning with Government House
\nexpenditures should be further reduced by as much as 50 percent in the
\nlight of the current realities. There is every need for us to review most
\nof our expenditure patterns and let it be said when that day comes that,
\nthere was a Governor who saw that possibility and worked hard to avert
\nit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following reports indicating a shortfall in federal revenue allocation to State, the Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson has called on the people of the State to brace up…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n