We are poised to recover our 13% Derivations, other debts ,says Bayelsa Government
By Aherhoke Okioma
The Bayelsa State government on Tuesday said there is focus on getting every single penny been owed the state is recovered from the federal government to enable them embark on more people’s oriented projects.
According to them, they are focusing on federal government to get their 13 percent derivation from Condensate and other areas of income to the state.
Speaking during the last Transparency Briefing to mark the end of the first tenure of senator Douye Diri at the Treasury Building in Yenagoa, commissioner for Finance, Ebibai Maxwell, said they will encourage citizens to pay their taxes. Saying they will begin to look outside taxes by focusing particularly on federal government to ensure the issue of condensate sales 13 percent are paid to the state.
Ebibai further said, “we need to recovered our 13 percent on condensate sales, signature bonus, crude oil swap. Where is our money, as much as they are the custodian of our common wealth of everybody, it is their duty to engage all stakeholders in the sharing formulars”.
” But there is no engagement from the other parties to say this is our common wealth, to say this is what we have done with it, or the portion of it or this is what is going to come. That engagement is hasn’t taken place”.
“The federal government is mortgaging our common wealth. We are going to go after our money”. he said
Speaking further said, for the state government, they are also feeling the huge impact of inflation in the society, currency fluctuations and other government policies especially at the federal government level. “When time gets tough, people must device means to survive legitimately. For your government and those of us in the ministry of finance, we are focused”.
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He said these are critical time where people are struggling to survive, Saying there is going to be adjustments in some of the contracts due to high cost of materials.
In his welcome address, the state commissioner of Information, Orientation and Strategy, Ayibaina Duba, said government in the last four years has kept faith with the Transparency initiative.
“As government, we have always been telling Bayelsans and indeed Nigerians the state of the Bayelsa finance. And we kept our promise that we will not play politics with the development of the state and welfare of the citizens”.
Giving the breakdown of November, December 2023 and January 2024, the Technical Adviser to the governor on Treasury and Account, Timipre Seipulo, declared that out of over one hundred and forty billion naira (#140b) that came in for the three months under review, the state government have a balance of #26.84 billion as surplus after all government expenditures and FAAC deductions.
