Flood-Ravaged State Budgets N420million For ‘Praise Night, Christmas Decorations’
Another sum of N190 million was budgeted for Christmas decoration by the state government totalling N420 million.
A SaharaReporters’ review of the Bayelsa State’s budget performance documents has shown that the state budgeted the sum of N230.3million for praise night and thanksgiving service.
Another sum of N190 million was budgeted for Christmas decoration by the state government totalling N420 million.
Already, in the first and second quarters of the year, the sum of N42million has been spent on praise night/thanksgiving service while N7million has been spent on Christmas decoration.
This development comes amid calls for more prudent spending by state governments.
The budget also comes amid developmental challenges facing Bayelsa State.
Bayelsa is one of the states impacted by flooding as several communities were affected and residents displaced.
Also, as of 2022, unemployment in the state stood at 36.7%, 1.41 million persons are also said to be poor in Bayelsa, 32% of school-age children in the state are also deprived access to education.
Bayelsa has the highest population of persons denied access to sanitary facilities with 95% of households lacking access to sanitary facilities , another 78% lack access to clean drinking water.
Bayelsa is also one of the states that scored F9 in terms of health preparedness in the country per details from the SBM intelligence.
There have been concerns on state’s prudence in terms of management of their resources and their impacts on development.
