The Bayelsa State Government on Wednesday appealed to the Federal Government for an extension of the moratorium on the deduction of loans and other financial obligations, owed by various the state governments.

The State Deputy Governor, Retired Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah, who made the appeal in Government House, Yenagoa, said the extension would enable the state governments to stabilise and tackle the issue of payment of workers’ salaries.

Lamenting the steady decline in the revenues from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), he disclosed that, contrary to expectations, the state government received only N2.4 billion for the month of March, despite the Federal Government’s declaration restraining FAAC from deducting loans.

The Deputy Governor, however, explained that the Federal Government moratorium does not affect other financial obligations, such as bond which deductions brought the net inflow of the state to about N1.1 billion even without the payment of salaries and overhead.

He said the state is in a dire financial difficulty, adding that, the state government would continue to interface with organised labour to proffer solutions to the problem of salary payment.

For the month of February, the Deputy Governor declared a gross of N6.3 billion comprising statutory allocation of N1.6 billion, derivation N3.7 billion, VAT N594m, exchange differentials N77.6 million.

Out of this amount, he said a total of N3.04 billion was deducted at source made up of bond deductions N1.2 billion, federal government restructured loan N741 million, three sets of deductions for overpayment about N749 million, commercial agriculture loan scheme one and two N162 million and repayment of Ekanga oil field N131million.

According to him, the total funds available for the month was N3.8 billion, which comprises net inflow to N2.9 billion and IGR for January N397 million.

On outflows, Rear Admiral Jonah said the state repaid a loan of N2.8 billion it obtained from banks to augment salary payment last year.

•Photo shows Bayelsa Deputy Governor John Jonah.

Update news