Dickson Denies Spending N3bn on Lawmakers' Cars 

By Emmanuel  Addeh in Yenagoa

The Bayelsa State Government yesterday debunked reports that it had spent over N3 billion in purchasing official cars for political appointees, including State House of Assembly members. 

A Government House statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson explained that the purchase of the said vehicles only covered the State-owned security outfit ‘Operation Doo Akpo’. 

The governor said that the move was to rejuvenate and boost its functions and improve security in the State, especially within Yenagoa and its environs. 

According to him, the payment for the vehicles which had been spread over a long period of time would be deducted monthly from the benefitting organisation. 

Dickson noted that the Government was not in a good financial standing to buy cars for the use of its functionaries, stressing that even the state Governor had remained with the same set of vehicles that were procured in 2012/13. 

“No arrangement has been made to buy new cars, in view of the state of the finances of the Government. 

“It must, however, be stated that as lawmakers and like their counterparts at the Federal level and other States, they need cars to function and perform their duties as representatives of the people. It has always been the practice and not new to Bayelsa”, the government house statement said. 

It restated Dickson’s commitment to running a transparent system, “where the welfare of workers and the citizenry remains topmost priority”. 

“It is therefore not true that government is owing six-months salary of workers as alleged in some of the media reports. Rather, the government has even gone ahead to pay in full the salary for the month of January”, the governor said.