Media aides of Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State have launched an attack on reporters who quoted Lawrence Erujakpor, the state’s commissioner of Works, boasting that Bayelsa was spending N33.8 billion to build the best governor’s office in the West African sub-region.
Stung by sharp criticism of the state’s wastefulness on social media, Governor Dickson’s chief press secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, rushed out a denial of Mr. Erujakpor’s statement that was quoted by several news sources and newspapers including Daily Independent and ThisDay.
But rather than produce evidence that the commissioner never gave out the astonishing figure of N33.8 billion, Mr. Iworiso-Markson lectured reporters to crosscheck facts.
The governor’s aide’s inept attempt at denial ignored the fact that Mr. Erujakpor had openly tried to justify the obscene expenditure on the governor’s office.
Governor Dickson’s spokesman launched a pointed attack on ThisDay.
SaharaReporters has obtained an audio clip of the now controversial interview by the Bayelsa Works commissioner. The commissioner’s remarks clearly reveal that the state is investing the outlandish amount on the governor’s office. The interview with the commissioner can be accessed here:
Critics have accused the Dickson administration of using the pretext of several expensive and inflated public projects to siphon public funds. “The government beats its chest and boasts of developing the state when, in effect, the costs of the so-called projects remain unjustifiable,” said a civil society activist based in Yenagoa, the state capital.
At a public forum where Governor Dickson paid contractors for two projects in excess of $200 million, a US reporter who works for CNBC asked a question about the total cost of the projects. In response, the governor announced that he was still negotiating a contract in which he had already sunk millions of dollars of public funds.
Governor Dickson’s government declares its income and expenditure profiles intermittently and at irregular intervals, violating a state law that mandates monthly disclosures. In addition, critics accuse the government of excessively inflating the costs of projects. “I can tell you that the cost of projects in this state has no bearing to prevailing rates in the construction sectors,” said the civil society activist. He added, “This fuels the speculations that many of the projects are indeed conduit pipes to milk the state.”
Below is the statement from the state government on the governor’s office:
The Bayelsa State Government has condemned in its entirety and described as mischievous, a news story published in the Friday, 10th of October, 2014 edition of ThisDay entitled “Bayelsa New Governor’s office to gulp N33b”
A Government House statement has debunked the report as the figment of the imagination of the author and a clear misrepresentation of facts, as the project in question only costs the Bayelsa State Government N3.8b as against the N33.8b reported by the ThisDay newspaper.
Describing the publication as a misrepresentation of facts and an attempt to tarnish the good image and the support enjoyed by the present administration in the State, the Government hereby advises journalists to always cross check their facts before going to the press.
ThisDay is one of the highly respected newspapers in the country and it is sad to observe that its correspondent that ought to know better, is feeding the unsuspecting public with tissues of lies.
The present administration in the State has regard for the media and that is why it always made public its activities, including the award of contracts.
It remains one the leading States in the country that has on monthly basis published its accounts, since the inception of the present administration under Governor Seriake Dickson.
The statement also wishes to debunk the claim by the newspaper that the Governor collapsed, as there was no incident of such and again, is a calculated attempt to cover up the truth and give a bad image to the State Government.
Daniel Iworiso-MarksonChief Press Secretary to the Governor of Bayelsa State