On Thursday, Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri signed into law the state’s N314.465 billion budget for the fiscal year 2022, which was approved by the House of Assembly.
The budget, on the other hand, was boosted by N3.7 billion by the assembly.
Diri had brought the original N310.717 billion allocation bill, dubbed the “Budget of Sustainable Growth,” before the assembly for discussion and passage on October 20.
He signed the budget a few hours after the assembly passed it on Thursday at Government House in Yenagoa.
During plenary, the assembly, led by Abraham Ingobere, explained that it increased the budget for 2022 by N3.7 billion “after due discussions.”
The rise was due to the omission of Assembly personnel as well as various ministries, departments, and agencies, as well as mathematical errors throughout the preparation process, according to the report.
According to the House, the N3.7 billion was made up of N1.4 billion for assembly personnel costs, N800 million for special tasks, N40 million for the state auditor-office, general’s and N5 million for various MDAs.
The governor expressed his joy that the budget was passed quickly by the legislature in time for the fiscal year 2021.
He added that his administration was working to reduce the state’s reliance on federal funds by increasing internally generated revenue.
Diri urged those in charge of revenue collection to do more to boost the state’s monthly revenue profile from N1 billion to N1.5 billion.
He commended the House for its dedication and asked for further cooperation between the two branches of government for the state’s growth.
Diri said, “We have to work as a government to move away from dependence on federal allocation, which has characterised our state government over the years. Therefore, I like to charge the officials in charge of revenue collection to ensure that in 2022 we have better figures of internally generated revenue in our state. The current revenue falls far too short of the expectations of the state government.
“As a government, we are prioritising internally generated revenue as one that must increase under this government.”
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