Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, has assured that funds from the World Bank for the state government’s reform initiatives in the education, health and local government sectors will be judiciously utilised to strengthen the sectors.
Governor Diri spoke on Wednesday during the 190th state executive council meeting in Government House, Yenagoa, in response to media reports that Bayelsa and four northern states had met the global lending institution’s criteria for funds in support of reforms in their education and health sectors.
The World Bank statement disclosed that the five states will receive a combined sum of $15m in performance-based incentives under its HOPE Governance Programme after emerging as the best-performing states in implementing key education and healthcare reforms.
According to Governor Diri, the reward was the result of visible investments of the administration in both sectors that were yielding positive results.
He stated that the administration had also embarked on reforms that have impacted positively on local government administration, stressing that local councils which struggled to pay salaries were now not only meeting up their salary obligations but were also undertaking infrastructure projects.
His words: “There is so much we are doing even in terms of local government reforms. At some point, local governments could not pay salaries. But today they are not only paying salaries but also doing infrastructure projects.
“Our Investments in health and education are visible and I would like to assure Bayelsans that the funds, when received, will be used to strengthen the sectors.
“Our duty is to serve you and make sure we improve what we meet on ground. Together let us work to build a stronger Bayelsa that we will be proud to hand over to our children.”
Making a presentation, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Treasury and Accounts, Mr. Timipre Seipulo, said the HOPE Governance Programme aims to improve efficiency in key sectors such as education and health.
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He informed that the bank’s incentives were based on the findings and recommendations of an Interim Independent Verification Agent, which assessed states’ performance to qualify for the programme’s Disbursement-Linked Indicators.
Giving a breakdown, Mr. Seipulou said reforms in the health and education sectors earned the state $1.5 million each.
He also stated that Bayelsa earned $500,000 for its local government reforms while preparation of citizens’ budgets earned the state another $500,000, amounting to $4 million.
