Bayelsa State Government said on Friday that it has recovered the sum of N18.6bn Derivation Funds from the Federation Account Allocation Commission, (FAAC) and refunded the sum of N7.4bn to neighbouring States.
Also, the government has refunded the sum of N7.4bn being over payment of Excess Crude/Augmentation 2006 to 2010 and Okori and Ndah Fields to other states.
Raising a poser over the refund made on Okori and Ndah Fields while briefing newsmen on the financial status of the state as part of the activities marking the Governor Seriake Dickson led administration’s one year in office, the State Commissioner of Finance, Mr. Duate Iyabi said, , ‘we are however, disputing the N2bn refund because Bayelsa State had never benefitted from any revenue generated from Okori and Ndah Fields. Clearly we cannot refund what we never received.”
He said the development has deprived the state of its rights of income, adding, we are in the process of recovering over N100bn Derivation funds due to Bayelsa state but wrongly credited to other states, because oil wells in the state were wrongly assigned to other states.
In its efforts to shore up its Revenue base, Mr Iyabi said the government has proposed monthly Internally Generated Revenue of between N1bn and N2bn, adding that this will assist the present administration in its bid to transform the state.
According to him, the current Internally Generated Revenue of between N400 to N600m a month is low. Government is taking concrete steps to shore up the IGR. First, a new Board made up of seasoned professionals has been appointed.
Already, Government has set up a target for Internally Generated Revenue generation per month at N1bn which is expected to increase to about N2bn in two years.
On Investment profile, the Commissioner disclosed that the Ministry of Finance Incorporated holds share with a nominal value of N12.34bn and market value of N9.442bn while the dividend collection for the year ended 31st December was N126.401m.
The Commissioner added that the present administration has acquired additional 35.18% of the Ordinary shares of Linkage Assurance Plc at a cost of 50k per share giving an aggregate purchase consideration of N1,686,900,418.82bn.
Also, during the 2012 fiscal year, the Government through legislative approval spent N1.5bn out of N3.1bn it is having in its Strategic Savings Account on flood related matters.
On the pay-roll fraud, the Commissioner disclosed that the present administration inherited a monthly payroll bill of N5.4bn but has been able to reduce it to N4.1bn.
His words, ‘ the present administration on assumption of office in February met a monthly payroll bill of N5.4bn. Government took definite steps to reduce this amount including promulgation of a law. We are succeeding as the figure has since dropped to N4.1bn.
