Governor Duoye Diri has stated that the Bayelsa state, which he governs, is bankrupt as a result of unfair federal funding.

Diri in an interview on Channels Television on Thursday, February 10, commemorating his second year as Governor of South-South state, stated that despite being an oil-producing state, they had not been treated fairly.

Insisting that money created in Bayelsa cannot be transferred to the federal government and distributed to states, Gov. Diri claimed that many individuals are benefiting and eating fat as a result of the injustice.

This, according to the Governor, is why there is such a strong call for restructuring so that all states receive their fair share of funding.

In response to Economic Confidential’s naming of Bayelsa as one of the country’s insolvent states, Gov. Diri said: “The question I ask myself is, is it just or fair that what is generated here as income comes back to Bayelsa as federal allocation. Those are the issues I keep talking about because we can’t have a chunk of money generated from our land, taken to the federal government and shared to states, and in the end say Bayelsa state is insolvent and that’s why we are talking about restructuring.

“That is why the constitution has to be amended. We can’t say a particular land is for the people but what is underneath is for the FG. There is no justice in it.

“So for us, we need restructuring in a way that we make income and pay taxes to the federal government. It is because of the unitary system in the name of the federal system that the resources are taken.

“If Bayelsa is said to be insolvent, then the whole of Nigeria is insolvent.

“My point is there is so much wrong with the country and that is why we are moving in cycles of underdevelopment, injustice, and almost becoming a failed state.

“About the issue of royalties, you can imagine how much the communities and the state suffer from gas flaring but the federal government takes the royalties which ought not to be. The royalties belong to the people, they are the ones who suffer from the pollutants that result from resources that are from this gas as well as the oil, but there are no funds given to the people; not even the states.

“There are so many people benefitting and eating fat from the injustice. Despite talking about the issue of oil exploitation at several meetings, yet nothing has been done; and even in the aspect of amending the constitution, I raised this issue at the national assembly but it was voted out.”