Today, I joined the Chairmen, workers and union members in the Local Government Councils, the President-General of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees(NULGE), Comrade Aliyu Haruna Kankara and the President of Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Dr. Kabiru Ado Sani Minjibir, to celebrate success in the Local Government administration and welfare of workers in Bayelsa State.
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It is with profound joy that I announce that all Local Government workers’ pensions, gratuities, and death benefits, amounting to N12 Billion, including arrears before my administration, have been cleared.
In line with the reforms we introduced when we came into office in 2020 and under the able supervision of the Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, we have birthed a new and working Local Government system in Bayelsa State where LGA Chairmen not only promptly pay monthly salaries but save enough funds to embark on capital projects.
With our new pension reforms, after clearing all outstanding pensions, gratuities, and death benefits, and with the digital processing system now in place, every retiree in the eight Local Government Areas will henceforth, receive their benefits immediately they leave service.
Indeed, all bottlenecks in processing payment of pensions have been dismantled and today, thirty persons who retired across the eight LGAs in August, 2025, have been paid their benefits.
Let me appreciate and congratulate all workers in the Local Government for their support of the various initiatives which earned me an award today from the national leadership of NULGE and MHWUN.
While I agree that Bayelsa State has become a model for Local Government administration in Nigeria for not touching their allocated funds, I have called for a national dialogue to examine the structure, functions and funding of local government councils to understand the challenges and the potential for reforms.
My views about LG administration, its structure and modes of creation that tend to undermine the legal authorities of state governments in a federal system remain the same, particularly for us in Bayelsa with just eight LGAs recognised by the Nigerian Constitution.
It is an injustice for a state that is contributing huge resources to the nation’s economy to be assigned eight LGAs while the State Government is legally constrained from creating additional local government areas.
~ Sen. Douye Diri, Executive Governor, Bayelsa State
