BY John Odhe, YENAGOA
The reason behind Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri’s unannounced regular visits to ongoing State projects sites has been revealed.
It is based on the governor’s passion for standard and timely delivery of projects as well as ensuring that all government infrastructure meet value for money.
The Commissioner for Information,
Orientation and Strategy, Mrs. Ebiuwou Koku-Obiyai gave the revelation during the statutory monthly transparency media briefing for the months of April and May, 2026 at the treasury house in Yenagoa.
The commissioner noted that another reason Diri had been devoting time to personally inspect projects was for the sake of accountability to the people.
“Our dear governor believes that accountability must be felt on the ground. That is why His Excellency makes regular unannounced visits to protect sites.
“Every project, every contract and every naira belong to the people of Bayelsa State and it is being managed in the full glare of the public,” she added.
She mentioned some of the ongoing capital intensive government infrastructure projects in the State to include: the Nembe-Brass Road, the Ekeremor-Agge Road, the 9-storey State secretary building and the FIFA standard football stadium amongst others.
Giving income and expenditure for the to months under review, the Technical Adviser to the governor on Treasury and Accounts, Mr. Timipre Seipulo disclosed that the state recorded a deficit of N34.67 billion in April 2026 but ended May with a balance of N37.08 billion, following increased statutory allocations, internally generated revenue and other receipts.
He said in April, the State realized a Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) net inflow of N41.43 billion while additional receipts from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), ecological funds and investment income brought total receipts for the month to N44.71 billion.
He explained that salary-related payments, including civil servants’ salaries, gratuities, pension arrears, political appointees’ allowances and grants to tertiary institutions, amounted to about N13 billion.
Other expenditures, including loan repayments and statutory deductions, brought total outflows before capital and recurrent spending to N21.53 billion.
Seipulo said recurrent expenditure stood at N6.17 billion, while capital expenditure reached N51.69 billion, covering major infrastructure projects such as road construction, the state assembly complex, the stadium project, the secretariat complex and acquisition of equity shares.
He noted that the state’s total expenditure for April amounted to N57.86 billion, resulting in a deficit of N34.67 billion, which was covered by the balance brought forward from March. Consequently, the state carried forward N22.15 billion into May.
He said for May, the state recorded a gross FAAC inflow of N52.81 billion, comprising N34.41 billion from derivation, N9.9 billion from VAT, N6.9 billion from statutory allocation and N1.6 billion from non-oil revenues.
After deductions of N891 million, the net FAAC inflow stood at N51.91 billion. Additional receipts from IGR, infrastructure-related funds and ecological funds increased total receipts to N63.86 billion.
The technical adviser disclosed that total salary-related expenditures in May amounted to N13.1 billion while other statutory obligations and operational costs brought total outflows to N21.57 billion.
He added that recurrent expenditure for the month was N6.98 billion, while capital expenditure stood at N20.37 billion, bringing total recurrent and capital spending to N27.36 billion.
According to him, the state ended May with a surplus of N14.93 billion, explaining that when added to the N22.15 billion balance brought forward from April, Bayelsa closed the month with a balance of N37.08 billion, which was carried forward to June 2026.
