The Bayelsa State Government has said that it is working assiduously to recover all revenues owed the state by the Federal Government in view of the instability of the naira and the huge impact of the soaring inflation on the country’s economy.
This was as it criticised the crude oil swap deal by the Federal Government, saying states were not carried along.
The Commissioner for Finance, Maxwell Ebibai, stated this at the transparency briefing for the months of November and December 2023, and January 2024, in Yenagoa, on Tuesday.
He said it was not only the incomes of individuals that were adversely affected and struggling to survive as a result of the rising inflation, but the government was also going through rough times.
According to him, the state government is not satisfied with the Federal Government over some of its fiscal activities around issues that should involve both the national and sub-national governments, citing crude oil swap deals and signature bonuses as instances.
He said the Federal Government, by some of its fiscal activities, was mortgaging the commonwealth of the federating states as it did not engage them.
Ebibai said, “For each and every one of us here, these are very critical times. We know what is happening to individual incomes, we know what is happening to inflation, and how people are struggling to survive.
And at the same time, too, we are feeling the huge impact of inflation on society; currency inflation and other effects of what is going on with government policies, particularly at the federal level.
“For our government and those of us in finance, we are, at this point, focused on ensuring that every single penny that is being owed the state is recovered. The government is focused on that. We still encourage citizens to pay their taxes but we should also look outside, and we are focused on particularly the Federal Government to ensure that on issues like condensates that they sell, where is our money? Where is our 13 per cent revenue? We want our money. On signature bonus, we want our 13 per cent.”
On the “crude oil swap, arrangement whereby the Federal Government uses crude oil to offset foreign loan, the Bayelsa commissioner said, “It is a bit funny that the Federal Government is mortgaging the commonwealth of everybody as much as they are custodians or trustees of other parties. There is no engagement of the other parties to say, ‘This is our commonwealth, this is what we are doing with it, your portion of it, this is how it is going to come’. That engagement has not taken place. And for those of us who know what we should know, and the fact that we need the money, we are going after our money.”
The finance commissioner described the crude swap deal as opaque, saying “the terms have to be clear.”
“If you are doing a swap, if you are doing forward and you are using our commonwealth to do your forward to shore up your position, please, where is the Bayelsa share and a number of crude oil-related accounts? That’s what we are going to do, and that’s what we are doing already.”
He said the state government would make some adjustments on the costs of some projects due to inflation, adding that the hikes in the prices of goods and services had affected projects awarded earlier.
“But be assured that the 2024 budget of the Bayelsa State government will be fully implemented by the grace of God,” he said.
Earlier in his remarks, the Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Ayibaina Duba, had explained that the income and expenditure briefing for the months of November and December 2023, and January 2024, was the last in the first tenure of Governor Duoye Diri, who would take fresh oath of office on February 14.
He said the Diri-led administration had kept faith in the transparency briefing initiative and its avowed commitment to be accountable to the people of the state.
Credit Gist New Today News in Newspaper Nigeria Headlines