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*** IT ONLY PROVIDED BASELINE DATA FOR POLICY MAKING.

At inception, it is a standard practice for any incoming administration to scan the political environment and more importantly assess the state of finances of the State. It was against this background that the former Governor of Bayelsa State, His Excellency, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson constituted the Alaibe-led Financial Management Committee in 2012. This was explained in the terms of references given to the committee.

The mandate of the Financial Management Committee was to assess the cummulative assets and liabilities of Bayelsa State, taking into account financial accruals budgetary provisions in terms of capital and recurrent expenditure components among others. The Report which was published in April 2012, was a veritable first step towards understanding where the Bayelsa economy was headed and what must be done to change the narrative.

It is essential to note that it was not Hon. Timipre Sylva, who handed over power to Senator Seriake Dickson; It was Rt. Hon. Nestor Binabo,who was the then Acting governor of Bayelsa State. The Report was not categorical in stating that the sum of Six hundred and sixty ( N660billion) which accrued to the Sylva administration was misappropriated. Frankly, the report only highlighted the volume of financial transactions, including the N50 billion bond, contractual obligations as well as exposure to bank loans among other liabilities. The report was indeed overreaching and a bit nebulous because the critical components of transactions were strewn together instead of being isolated and treated accordingly. For instance monies expended in respect of IRREVOCABLE STANDING ORDER PAYMENTS are contracts that spanned many years not limited to the Timipre Sylva era.

It was this erroneous impression that compelled the H.E. Dickson in 2015 to state unequivocally that THE ALAIBE REPORT SHOULD NOT BE USED TO INDICT Chief Timipre Sylva, as most of the transactions predated his administration. The import of the Report was to establish baseline data necessary for policy planning and implementation and ultimately to guide budgeting, award of contracts and other financial decisions of the Restoration Administration.

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Part of the REPORT reads: “The report stated that the year 2007 started a debt dependency era when there was a great demand on domestic bank to finance current expenditure and other obligations”. The report however tangentially omitted the activities of militancy which led to a sharp drop in revenues that accrued from crude oil. Of course, it was this unedifying trajectory that culminated in the PRESIDENTIAL AMNESTY PROGRAMME of which Chief Sylva played a role.

There were however some contracts that were queried. “The Glory Land Drive Phase two Project by FAK Engineering, the total contract value of this project is N20.312bn and over 40 per cent payment had been made. N9bn was been paid so far to the contractor. With the re-awarding of this contract and the ongoing implementation of same, the fluctuations of the value of the naira and stagflation among other economic variables have acted as a balancing act.

In summation, the Alaibe Report was necessary for a government in transition. IT WAS NOT A PROBE PANEL. Every administration incurs its own assets and liabilities. Therefore, the financial report provided baseline data that enabled the Dickson administration to make sound financial policies in line with the realities of the time. It was not a probe panel and did not indict the SYLVA ADMINISTRATION. No more No less!

Dr. John Idumange Fsm.
A Public Policy Expert

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