A group, the Bayelsa Development Initiative (BDI), has described Governor Douye Diri’s 2024 budget as a rehash of past documents and bereft of vision and direction to champion the development of the state.
BDI said after studying the document, there was nothing to cheer about as it remained a repetition of old budgets with a high increase in recurrent expenditure to satisfy the huge appetite of the ruling class at the detriment of the state and the people’s development and empowerment.
“The 2024 Budget is simply a rehash of similar past documents with the same sub-heads. The only difference is that old figures were changed and adjusted to higher ones. It is not the product of any deep thinking and serious research to reflect the new realities and challenges of the people,” BDI stated.
The budget has a recurrent expenditure of N212.7 billion and a capital expenditure of N176.6 billion. The group, however, in a statement signed on Sunday by its secretary, Michael Sam-Rodamini, said there was nothing the budget could do to break the shackles of poverty, hunger, and underdevelopment in the state.
BDI insisted that Bayelsa is in dire need of quality capital projects such as roads, bridges, and water, among others, and required a budget that would cut down on the astronomically high cost of running government contained in Diri’s 2024 budget.
BDI stressed that while a whopping N39.4 billion was budgeted for the governor’s office and N7 billion for Government House, the entire Ministry of Water Resources got only N1.7 billion.
“The implication is that while the governor lives in profligacy, buying the best of bottled water to quench his thirst, the masses of Bayelsa will still groan under the affliction of waterborne diseases as they keep depending on contaminated water bodies to quench their thirst.
“The implication is that the masses of Bayelsa will continue to buy water from vendors popularly called ‘mai ruwa’. With such a paltry sum of money budgeted for the Ministry of Water Resources, it means that the government has no plan to embark on the much-needed water reticulation project to connect Bayelsa homes to pipe-borne water. This government is not ready to do anything that will benefit the people.”
BDI wondered what kind of work the Finance Ministry is expected to do for Bayelsa with a whopping N60 billion, while the Ministry of Agriculture, which was supposed to be the focus of any serious government, had only N14 billion.
“This is evidence that Diri’s government has no plan to develop the agricultural sector, which is supposed to play a crucial role in addressing hunger to ensure food security, enhance the standard of living and promote the economy. Bayelsa’s agricultural potential will remain untapped under this government,” BDI said.
The group observed that while Diri planned to spend N13.3 billion on local and foreign trips, N650 million on legal services, N108 million on telephone calls and N1.6 billion on refreshments, he set aside paltry sums of N6.5 million for craft development centres, N980 million for the University of Africa and N60 million for physical planning and development.
The group further noted: “A look at the budget shows repetitive sub-heads with huge amounts of money allocated to them. Despite the huge sum of money allocated to the Governor’s Office, there are also security votes of about N12 billion, security services of about N2.6 billion, and cleaning and fumigation of N2.5 billion, among other channels designed to funnel our money into private pockets.
“It will surprise you that there is no money voted for the Yenagoa New City Project, which is supposed to expand the capital city, build new homes, and crash the high cost of renting accommodation in the state.”
