Austerity Measures: Dickson To Reduce Number Of Bayelsa Political Appointees

Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has expressed his readiness to reduce the number of political appointees in his administration due to the dwindling oil price in the international market and as part of austerity measures to cushion the effect.

Dickson raised the alarm that his government could no longer sustain the N500m monthly wage bill of the over 200 political aides he had appointed since February, 2012.
He gave the indication on Wednesday at the state government’s income and expenditure transparency briefing for the months of September and October at the Banquet Hall, Government House, Yenagoa.

Dickson said he would “downsize or right size” political appointments in the government as a way of keying into the austerity measures already announced by the Federal Government in the wake of imminent economic recession.
The governor, however, added that the economic measure would not affect civil servants.
He said, “From next year, if things remain the way they are, don’t be surprised this government will downsize or right size our political appointees, the number of political appointments.
“It won’t affect civil servants. Civil servants, they are already there. But political appointees, instead of having people on appointment and then we find it difficult to pay salary, we may have to take those decisions but we pray and hope, and all of us should pray, that we should not get to that level in Jesus name.
“That is a very serious prayer point because our government spends about N500m to service political appointees every month because we know that in our state, the private sector is not just weak, it is almost absent”.
According to the governor, Bayelsa’s average monthly earnings from the Federation Account, which ranged from N19bn to N20bn and N21bn, had reduced drastically to N10bn in the last few months.
“There were even some months that we received N22bn, N23bn. So, from about N20bn, N21bn, N22bn, N23bn, we are now managing to see N10bn. And I’m told that the prospects for next year are even worse”, he announced.
He, therefore, called on Bayelsans “to be prepared for the austerity measures that the Federal Government has already alerted the whole country about”.

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