Floating on Survival, Drowning in Celebration: Gov Diri’s Budget of Neglect and Poverty

PAUL UTEBOR

In Bayelsa, the tide no longer dances with the people; it drowns them. The creeks that once fed communities now whisper hunger, and the oil-rich soil feels more like a curse than a blessing. The youths roam like shadows in daylight, diplomas in their pockets but dreams on hold. Jobs are like mirages in the sweltering heat, visible, promised, but forever out of reach. The fishers cast nets, not just into rivers, but into the unknown, hoping to catch a future that has slipped through the fingers of government promises.

They say oil is wealth, but in Bayelsa, it greases only the palms of government officials and the powerful. The pipelines grow with profit, yet the communities nearby drown in poverty. Hope is shared like fuel in scarcity, only enough to get you from one disappointment to the next. For the Bayelsan youth, the future comes covered in uncertainty, tied with the rope of neglect. A generation floats, not on water, but on survival, struggling to stay afloat in a land governed by a governor that has forgotten its youth.

Despite these struggles among the Bayelsa youth, which are audible to the deaf and visible to the blind, the Bayelsa State General Service Bureau (Governor’s Office) has turned a blind eye and deaf ear to these realities, budgeting the sum of ₦1,765,000,000 for anniversaries and celebrations, among other frivolous items.

In the 2025 approved budget of the Bayelsa state government, the General Service Bureau (Governor’s Office) was allocated the sum of N25,089,252,853.99 for its expenditures, with salaries and wages gulping the sum of N4,359,024,572.44.

Further analysis of the budget document showed that travel & transport in general will gulp the sum of ₦90,000,000, with local travel & transport (training) gulping ₦50,000,000 and local travel & transport (others) taking ₦40,000,000.

More so, the documents showed that miscellaneous expenses generally were kept at N1,313,000,000. A breakdown showed that refreshment and meals were allocated the sum of ₦30,000,000, honorarium and seating allowances were set at ₦80,000,000, and town hall meeting expenses were allocated the sum of ₦50,000,000, while the whopping sum of ₦1,067,000,000 was budgeted for welfare packages at the expense of Bayelsa youths.

The rehabilitation/repair of the residential building was set at N200,000,000, while the acquisition of non-tangible assets was set at N1,765,000,000. With anniversaries/celebrations going for N1,765,000,000.

The Bayelsa state budget was signed into law in December 2024 by the state governor, Senator Douye Diri, which was tagged the “Budget of Assured Prosperity”.

The bill, initially presented by the governor on 31st October with a proposed figure of N689.4 billion, was increased by N10.1 billion to N699.7 billion by the House of Assembly.