| Seriake Dickson |
Bayelsa State governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, yesterday, re-assured workers of the state that payment of salaries for the month of June 2015 will commence this week.
Speaking on a live interview on Focus Nigeria, aired on the Africa Independent Television, AIT and monitored in Yenagoa, the governor said that he had already authorised the payment of the salaries to commence today.
Dickson, who lamented the current economic downturn in the country, maintained that Bayelsa State was not owing its workers, as is the case with most states in the federation due to the sharp drop in oil revenue.
The governor said there had been a drastic reduction in government’s expenditure, adding that his office had not received security votes and some other statutory allowances in the last three months.
According to him, Bayelsa was one of the heavily indebted states upon his assumption of office, adding that the state was now ranked among the least indebted as a result of his administration’s prudent management of resources of the state.
“We are not owing our normal monthly obligations to our workers. Just yesterday, after reviewing the financial reports for the month, I authorised that salaries for June be paid and the process will commence today. But we have been slowed down in the execution of most of the infrastructural programmes that we got involved in the past three years.”
“To that extent, there are major challenges facing Bayelsa and indeed all states in the country but not non-paying our workers because of the structures and mechanisms we have put in place.
“We need the bailout because of the obligations we have to our contractors towards the completion of on-going projects,” he said.
Though the state, according to the governor does not owe salaries, he lent his voice to the on-going call on the Federal Government to provide financial bailout to state governments, including Bayelsa to enable the state meet its outstanding contractual obligations.
“We inherited a very high debt profile. The bond that was taken by my predecessor (Timipre Sylva) is close to N100 billion when you add the interest elements, which we are servicing in order to maintain the corporate integrity of the state. But now, I can report to you that Bayelsa is one of the least indebted states.
“So from inheriting a government that was one of the heaviest indebted, now over three years, even in the midst of funding our massive infrastructural and other development projects; because of the way we have been managing the resources of the state, Bayelsa has now transformed from being one of the most heaviest indebted to one of the least indebted states,” he added.
On the inability of local government councils to pay salaries, Governor Dickson absolved the state government from blame, noting that there was no time his administration made any illegitimate deductions from council allocations.
The governor, who said efforts were being made by the state House of Assembly to address the issue through its oversight functions, explained that, the state government is augmenting the recurrent expenditure of councils by paying 60 per cent of teachers’ salaries.
Dickson, said “My local government chairmen will tell you that since I became governor, I have not tampered with local government funds. Statutorily, councils are responsible for the payment of primary school teachers. But because of our emphasis on education, Bayelsa State Government pays 60 percent of that obligation and allowed the local governments to pay only 40 percen.
“I am aware that most councils are owing their workers some months in arrears which is not acceptable. Recently, I am told that the House of Assembly is conducting a public hearing into the issue and I had directed the chairmen to appear before the house to explain why they are defaulting because I am not owing at the state level.”
Source: Vanguard
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