By John Odhe, YENAGOA
Chairmen of the eight Local Government Areas of Bayelsa State have taken after the State governor, Senator Douye Diri by organising stakeholders interactive sessions in preparation of the 2027 budgets across the local councils.
On Tuesday, Yenagoa local government area gathered stakeholders including members of the Yenagoa Legislative Assembly together to discuss and fine-tune the N18 Billion appropriated for the 2027 fiscal year.
Mayor of Yenagoa, Mr. Bulodisiye Ndiwari said the N18 billion projection for next year was based on the current receipts from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), federal government monthly allocations to the council, exchange gains as well as other indices.
The chairman noted that the council was amongst other projects, embarking on a fish farming project to boost the LG’s revenue status and also create jobs for the rural dwellers.
The chairman also used the medium to address an issue raised during the discussion pertaining to the Swali Ultra Modern Market which is now being administered by the State government instead of Yenagoa local government administration.
In his reaction, the chairman said there were several markets under the LGA’s control, including the Gbarain Market, the Zarama Market and others in the State capital.
On the Swali market, the mayor went down memory lane, saying “hitherto, there was a market at Ovom which was called “Oyoyo Market.” But over the years, there were some security issues in the market. So, the State government relocated the market to Swali.
“The council then did not have the
financial muscle to build such a modern market. So, the government built the market and operated it.
“The initial understanding was that the council would have been partners in the management of the market but that did not come to be. Successive administrations too tried but it did not work.
“But we are looking forward to building our own market here in the city so that some of our men and women who are into the buying and selling business will have the opportunity to trade in that market which will be operated by council.”
He revealed that a land had already been procured with regards to the proposed market place building.
