The Bayelsa state government has assured civil servants in the state that it had no plans to downsize the workforce, amidst dwindling revenue. The government said on Thursday that although it was contending with an unwieldy wage bill, it would seek alternative sources of revenue to shore up its finances. The Commissioner for Finance, Maxwell Ebibai, gave the assurance at the transparency briefing for the months of January and February 2021, in Yenagoa, the state capital. Newsmen report that under the state’s Bayelsa Transparency Law, it had become mandatory for the government to make public its income and expenditures on a monthly basis. Ebibai, said the state government received N6.8 billion for February, 2021, as net receipts from the Federation Account, after first line deductions, as a...
Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State on Tuesday presented a budget of N153.4 billion for 2021 to the state House of Assembly for approval. Presenting the budget christened ‘MEGA Budget ‘, Obaseki said that it was made up of N94.8 billion recurrent expenditure and N58.6 billion capital expenditure. “Mr Speaker, you will note that the recurrent component is larger than the capital. It is to help us deal with the social and economic consequences of COVID-19. “The total receipts of N153 billion expected for 2021 comprise of N71 billion from the federation account and N36 billion Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). “We also expect N9.8 billion from aids and grants; most of them have already been finalised. We expect to raise N15.3 billion as loan and 13.8 billion as capital development fund rec...