Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa
The Bayelsa State Government, yesterday, acknowledged receipt of N90 billion as funds from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) from the federal government as of October 2022.
Technical Adviser to the Bayelsa State Governor on Treasury and Accounts, Mr Timipre Seipulo, made the disclosure at the state monthly Transparency Briefing for months of September and October 2022 at the Treasury House, Yenagoa.
He said the money was paid quarterly from the Federation Account and not monthly as being speculated in some quarters.
The governor’s aide declared N20.24bn net receipt for September 2022, which accrued to the state government from the Federation Account Allocation Committee while total FAAC deductions stood at N1.592bn.
Seipulou also announced N27.561bn net receipt for October 2022 and N1.6bn as total FAAC deductions.
“Now, it will be necessary to remind ourselves with this conscientious excess inflow, which we have continued to report in the state. In all our transparency briefings, we have been mentioning that when necessary.
“For this month, what is received from that account is N13.8 billion but actually like what they have said before, ‘the refund which a lot of people have talked about’ is not a monthly payment; it’s a quarterly payment and paid over 36 months.
“The money is paid over 36 months, which is three years, so, hardly three tripping months you will have about 13 billion at place by the state and for us in Bayelsa State, we will continue to report it in our transparency briefings. As at now, the net received from the fund so far is N90 billion up to October.
“And if you look at the major projects we have also done, we have done quite some major projects, which we are utilising the funds and the major ones, for instance, the Yenagoa, the Oporoma road which the state has spent over N12 billion.
“We have the Igbogene-AIT road, which we have spent over N19 billion payment, not contract amount, because the contract amount are far more than this. But we have actually disbursed over 100 billion to contractors for this projects,” he said.
Seipulo also said the government garnered the sum of N2.651 billion as internally generated revenue (IGR) for the month of September 2022, and had raked in N1.19bn IGR for the previous month of August 2022, noting that before now, the state’s monthly IGR had always been a little over N1bn.
Explaining the reason for the increase in the IGR, Seipulou said: “Our IGR for September 2022 was N2.651bn. You see, that is far beyond what we normally have.
“Our (IGR) range has been in the range of one point something billion. That (increase) arose, because there was N1.1bn IGR receipt, and also there was about N1.5bn that was got from federal agencies and that money was the portion that was due to Bayelsa State. So, those two amounts accounted for the N2.651bn IGR fund for that month (of September).”
Also, speaking, Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Hon. Ayiba Duba, said the state government has always informed the people the true picture of its income and expenditures as the government was not in the business of deceit.
