The Federal Government Has Made Bayelsa State Broke – Gov Diri

Bayelsa State Governor, Duoye Diri says the flawed revenue generation and allocation system in Nigeria has made his state broke.

According to Diri, it is unfair that the state has so much resources, generates revenue from it but then has to take it to the federal government and await a portion of it as allocation.

Naija News reports the Governor made the defence on Thursday during an appearance on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, where he spoke about his achievements in office in the past two years.

Reacting to a report by Economic Confidential which listed Bayelsa as one of the insolvent states in the country Diri said the unfair federation allocation is responsible for such rating.

He also used the opportunity to reiterate the call for restructuring, noting that such issues will continue to come up except Nigeria is restructured.

Diri argued that the people who have the resources and suffer from the exploitation of such resources should also have control over the revenue generated from it.

“The question I ask myself is, is it just or fair that what is generated here as income comes back to Bayelsa as federal allocation. Those are the issues I keep talking about because we can’t have a chunk of money generated from our land, taken to the federal government and shared to states and in the end say Bayelsa state is insolvent and that’s why we are talking about restructuring,” the governor said.

“That is why the constitution has to be amended. We can’t say a particular land is for the people but what is underneath is for the FG. There is no justice in it.

“So for us we need restructuring in a way that we make income and pay taxes to the federal government. It is because of the unitary system in the name of the federal system that the resources are taken.

“If Bayelsa is said to be insolvent, then the whole of Nigeria is insolvent.

“My point is there is so much wrong with the country and that is why we are moving in cycles of under development, injustice and almost becoming a failed state.

“About the issue of royalties, you can imagine how much the communities and the state suffer from gas flaring but the federal government takes the royalties which ought not to be. The royalties belong to the people, they are the ones who suffer from the pollutants that result from resources that are from this gas as well as the oil, but there are no funds given to the people; not even the states.

“There are so many people benefitting and eating fat from the injustice. Despite talking about the issue of oil exploitation at several meetings, yet nothing has been done; and even in the aspect of amending the constitution, I raised this issue at the national assembly but it was voted out.”