Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State

Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

Bayelsa State governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, in a rare show of transparency, has declared a receipt of N9.7 billion from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee for the month of December, 2016.

The declaration was in line with his administration’s policy of transparency, prudence and accountability.

Speaking with journalists on the receipts of the State from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC, the governor explained in his breakdown that, the state received N1.16 billion as statutory allocation, 13% derivation amounted to N3.2 billion, Value Added Tax, N699 million and Petroleum Profit Tax, N2.4 billion.

Others are, budget supports to state, N1.111 billion, foreign exchange differential, N1.2 billion and refunds on over payment, N57.5 million.

According to Governor Dickson, out of this amount, N2.3 billion was deducted at source by FAAC, which include bond obligation, foreign loans, commercial agriculture credit scheme 1 and 11 and salary bailout to the state.

Hon. Dickson added that, the government is servicing the loan obtained for the construction of the multi billion naira cargo Airport, which according to him would be of immense benefit to the economic growth of the state.

He stated that, the efforts of the government at addressing the issue of over bloated wage bill has begun to yield some dividends, as it has recorded a reduction of over N1 billion.

He used the opportunity to disclose that, the government has ordered full payment of January salary with effect from Thursday.

Commenting on the prevailing economic situation in the country, the governor noted that, although the price of crude oil experienced a leap in the months of November and December 2016, it was sad to note that, it did not reflect in the funds from the Federation Account within the period.