Bayelsa: We have nothing to hide regarding state finances – Commissioner

The Bayelsa State Government has declared that it has nothing to hide in regards to the financial transactions of the Governor Douye Diri administration.

Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Ayibaina Duba, who stated this during the income and expenditure briefing for the months of November and December 2021, at the Treasury Building in Yenagoa on Monday said the Diri led administration is committed to the principle of transparency and accountability.

Duba was responding to a question on the government’s budget for the celebration of the Diri administration’s second anniversary.

Also speaking, the Technical Adviser to the Governor on Treasury, Accounts and Revenue, Timipre Seipulou, explained that the government has an established financial procedure for income and expenditure operations.

He said all monies spent on the anniversary events could not be given in the transparency briefing for the two previous months, stressing that the government would provide all financial details at the right time.

Seipulou, who gave the figures for November and December, said as of December 2021, the state government has an established financial procedure for income and expenditure operations.

“We have financial processes in the state. If expenditures are not made, they are not presented. All expenditures that are being made during the anniversary (celebration), be sure that they are budgeted for.

“What is being spent at this time (of the celebration) can’t be extracted. At the appropriate time, expenditures related to the anniversary will be presented.”

Seipulo in his presentations said as of December 2021, the state government had N98,666,00 naira in its coffers.

He also disclosed that the state government had a deficit of over N4 billion as of December 2021 after N9,449,581 was deducted from total receipt from the federal government and other sources which stood at N16.6 billion