Dickson: Bayelsa Got N9.7bn as December Allocation

Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa

Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, yesterday declared a receipt of N9.7 billion from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) for the month of December, 2016.
The governor said the declaration was line with his administration’s policy of transparency, prudence and accountability.

During the breakdown, Dickson explained that the state received N1.16 billion as statutory allocation, it got N3.2 billion as 13per cent derivation, Value Added Tax of N699 million and Petroleum Profit Tax of N2.4 billion.

He added that budget support to the state was N1.111 billion, foreign exchange differential, N1.2 billion and refunds on over-payment, N57.5 million.

According to 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.

The governor added that the government was still 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 disclosed that the government has ordered full payment of January salary with effect from Thursday (yesterday).

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 did not reflect in the funds from the Federation Account within the period.