The Bayelsa State Government will spend an additional N3bn monthly on workers' salaries following the approval of special allowances for public servants and employees of tertiary institutions.
The new payments, which began in October 2026, will raise the state's monthly salary expenditure, with more than N900m allocated to tertiary institution workers and about N2bn to other categories of public servants.
The Technical Adviser on Treasury, Accounts and Revenue to Governor Douye Diri, Timipre Seipolu, disclosed this on Friday during the state's transparency briefing on its revenue and expenditure for August and September.
He said the government had also committed to paying arrears of the allowances for tertiary institution workers dating back to January 2026.
“The state has approved special allowances for tertiary institutions, and the payment is commencing from October, even though the government has also committed to paying the arrears from January 2026,” Seipolu said.
He explained that the two categories of allowances would jointly increase the monthly wage bill by approximately N3bn, excluding outstanding arrears.
The adviser disclosed that about 65,411 workers were covered by the state's salary payment arrangements.
He said differences in salary structures across the public service made it inappropriate to calculate the wage bill using a uniform salary estimate.
“Doctors, nurses, investigators, civil servants, university employees and fire service personnel have distinct salary structures,” he said.
Seipolu added, “It is not appropriate to estimate the state’s total wage bill by simply multiplying the number of workers across the different categories by a uniform salary figure.”
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Ebiuwou Koku-Obiyai, dismissed reports that some major government projects had stalled.
She said the projects were progressing according to schedule, adding that the government had continued to meet its financial obligations to contractors.
“Our projects are meeting their respective milestones, with the government meeting its financial commitments to contractors to ensure timely completion,” she said.
Koku-Obiyai listed the nine-storey State Secretariat building, the rehabilitation of the Light Floor project and the Lagos Road project among the ongoing infrastructure developments.
She said she and the Commissioner for Works had inspected the Lagos Road project and confirmed that construction had reached an advanced stage.
The commissioner urged residents to disregard unverified reports about the projects, insisting that the administration remained committed to completing its infrastructure commitments.
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