Bayelsa faults Sanusi over financial status

The Bayelsa State Government has dismissed claims by the Central Bank of Nigeria that the state is in financial distress, saying the position of the apex bank is a false alarm.The State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Dr. Sylva Opuala-Charles, stressed that the remarks of the CBN Governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, and a member representing Ekiti North at the Senate, Mrs. Olubunmi Adentunji, about the finance of the state was not true.Sanusi had, in a forum in Kaduna, expressed concern on the lack of liquidity of most states in the country and opined that they should be merged to ensure better management of their resources.Adetunbi had also on the floor of the Senate highlighted a serious financial crisis in some states including Bayelsa.The Senator in a motion entitled Looming danger of bankruptcy in states, The need for fiscal evaluation, raised the alarm that most of the states risked being insolvent owing to huge wage bill.But Opuala-Charles, who spoke to our correspondent in Yenagoa on Tuesday, said local and international organisations, including Fitch Rating, had studied the financial state and passed a clean bill of health on it.He referred to the inclusion of Bayelsa among states that were broke as an aberration.He said the economy of the state had been redefined by the present administration and operated on the basis of transparency.He noted that the state had put in place an administrative capacity run on the principle of decentralisation of decision-making."The system has achieved an investment-to-total spending ratio of about 50 per cent and has curb operating spending and limit recourse to external direct debt," he said.He stated that the state scored B in the last Fitch Rating, explaining that the state was on the path of good financial standing.
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