Bayelsa's N4 billion Pension Liability: Sylva Indicts Jonathan, Urges Dickson To Resign

Former Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State has furiously reacted
to his successor's reaction to a demonstration staged by pensioners to
protest the state government's failure to pay billions of naira in
pension entitlements.
Current Bayelsa governor, Seriake Dickson, had specifically blamed
Mr.Sylva for the state's high and mounting pension liabilities, adding
that his predecessor had not paid pensioners their benefits during his
four-year tenure as governor. Mr. Sylva was the immediate predecessor
to Mr. Dickson, the handpicked choice of President Goodluck Jonathan,
himself a former deputy governor and governor of Bayelsa.
In a fiery press statement issued on his behalf by an aide, Mr. Sylva,
who has been charged with massive corruption during his term as
governor, said he was "sick and tired" of being blamed by Mr. Dickson
for what his spokesman called the current governor's "incompetence and
failure."
Mr. Sylva also stated that he inherited some unpaid pensions and
gratuities from Mr. Jonathan, adding that he went ahead to pay down
much of the obligations. He questioned Mr. Dickson's motives for
setting up a panel to probe the pension crisis, calling on the
incumbent governor to resign.
Below is the text of Mr. Sylva's statement:
At a so-called Transparency Briefing at the weekend, newspaper reports
quote Dickson as claiming that the Bayelsa State Government under
Chief Timipre Sylva never paid pensions to retirees for five years.He
claims further that his administration inherited unpaid pension
arrears of over N4 billion. Consequently, he would like to establish a
Judicial Commission of Inquiry to probe Sylva.
We are sick and tired of Dickson's governance style of always blaming
Chief Timipre Sylva for his incompetence and failure. We call upon
Dickson to resign now since he has shown that the job for which he was
imposed on the people of Bayelsa State is bigger than him. Failing
whichthe people of Bayelsa State should exercise their civic duty to
remove him from office using all available constitutional options.
Dickson's claim about non-payment of pensioners from May 2007- January
2012 is scandalous, petty and irresponsible. This is clear for the
following reasons:
1) When Sylva took over as Governor of Bayelsa State from Dr
Goodluck Jonathan, there were outstanding pension and gratuity
arrears,and no noise was made about it. As a leader, Sylva took
responsibility on the conviction that government is a continuum.
Pensioners were paid along with people still in service, promptly and
monthly. Those who retired from service at the time also received
their gratuity once the appropriate documentations were done. Not even
Sylva's opponents could accuse him of non-payment of salaries and
pensions. By our records, the state government paid an average of N216
million monthly and about N2.6 billion per annum on pensions.
2) If nobody protested over non-payment of pension for five years,
it means pensioners as well as labor in Bayelsa were satisfied with
the Sylva administration.
3) Why is Dickson restricting his pension probe to the period from
2007- 2012? Why not commence from the beginning of civilian rule in
the state in 1999? Why the obsession with Sylva?
4) Dickson has been in office since February 2012. In April 2012, he
set up a kangaroo 11-person Financial Management Review Committee
headed by Mr Ndutimi Alaibe to probe Sylva. Yet, Dickson is only just
realizing - in July 2013 – that pension funds were mismanaged from
2007-2012.
5) Dickson says it has come to his knowledge that the pension
thieves in Bayelsa State used the stolen funds to build hotels and buy
exotic cars. Meaning that he already knows who these criminals are.
So, why set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry?
6) Dickson and his master at the top have run out of options in the
schizoid attempt to ruin the political career of Sylva hence the
decision to set up this Judicial Commission of Inquiry. By working to
the answer, they would like the Commission to indict Sylva having
failed in their previous attempts with the Alaibe Committee, and the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Under Dickson, Bayelsa State has suffered a severe governance deficit.
By all indications, Dickson is interested only in power and not the
responsibility that goes with the high office he was brought to
occupy. Having struggled to hide his lack of capacity under the name
of Sylva and seen clearly that this strategy is no longer workable,
the only option left for Dickson is to resign now.
May God help Bayelsa State.