How Gov. Douye got more derivation funds for Niger Delta states – Commissioner

Agency Report

The Bayelsa State Commissioner for Finance, Mr Maxwell Ebibai, has disclosed how Governor Douye Diri spearheaded the process that has led to more derivation funds for Niger Delta states.

According to him, Diri in collaboration with other governors argued in favour of the constitutional provisions that ensured derivation is calculated based on accrued revenue not after deduction by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

Ebibai who stated this during the transparency briefing for the month of July and August said other parties had no choice but to agree with the position of the law.

“Governor Douye Diri spearheaded an increase in derivation for all oil-producing states. Our governor in his way silently collaborated with his colleagues to get the constitutional provision for derivation to be properly interpreted. What was going on was a situation where we were receiving the net figures after the NNPC deduction. But our governor leading and collaborating with other governors was able to achieve the constitutional provision that says accrued revenue. That took a lot of effort to ensure other parties involved accepted that this is the true position of the law. Our governor deserves credit for achieving this without antagonising anybody. He has achieved this huge success for the Niger Delta states,” he said.

Ebibai disclosed that the net receipt for the month of July from the federation account was N21.89 while N25.3 million was received in August. According to him, the state recorded a deficit of N2.9 billion in July which was mitigated by the N3.9 billion brought forward from June leaving the state with a balance of N561 Million.

He stated that after the outflow from August the state was left with N4.932 inclusive of the N561 million brought forward from July.

In his remarks, the Bayelsa State Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Mr Ayibaina Duba cautioned those trying to play politics with every issue to desist from misinforming the public.

He stated that the Diri administration inherited the transparency press briefing from the government of former governor Seriake Dickson and has continued with it not because it wanted to please people but for the fact that Bayelsans deserve to know how their money is being spent.

“Sometimes when you do something people would not look back at the philosophy of what the government is doing. Yes, the prosperity government inherited the transparency briefing from the Restoration government; people need to know that it was still a PDP government. Our fidelity to the policy has never wavered any day. But recently some mischievous people have started raising issues. We do this not because we want to please anybody but because as a government we feel that the people we are holding their commonwealth in trust for must know what the government is doing with the funds available to the state.”