Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri has come out to say that his government is ready to embrace the bottom-up budgeting process in the preparation of the 2021 state budget.

He recently revealed that this process will help to get rid of any proliferation of misplaced projects, misallocation of projects, and duplication of projects.

According to him, he is focused on fulfilling his necessary obligation of the prosperity government, so he would keep planning to not fail.

He added that he would also be prioritizing education because an uneducated mind is a dangerous mind.

His words, “What we are doing today is in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Law 2009 as amended which states that government shall direct citizens participation conference to be convened and caused the action of the said conference together with the views on expressed to be published.

“We are here not only to fulfill a necessary obligation of the prosperity government but also to fulfill a modern provision because over the years we have always done the top-bottom budgeting and not the bottom-top budgeting which has always make us to misplaced projects, misallocate projects and also to some extent undertake projects that are not utilized. There is also duplication of projects, therefore this budget process will help us eliminate all that. We are here to plan so that we don’t fail.

“We will prioritize education because an uneducated mind is a dangerous mind. Over 192 COVID-19 safety kits have been distributed to our public schools for the purpose of getting them to reopen while 300 private schools have also been given 300 COVID-19 safety kits.

“In the area of health, we are going to improve the earlier laid foundation in the health system, the general hospitals in the eight local government areas will be equipped and made to become functional within the next one year. As you are aware, seventy percent of our people work and live in rural areas therefore primary health care will be a cornerstone of this administration to make sure that we meet the health needs of our citizens.

“In the area of agriculture, we have already started the process. There will be the emphasis of fish, rice cassava, and plantain production, these are areas we have a comparative advantage. The commissioner of Agriculture has been put on notice to do all he can to ensure that we change our focus to make Niger Delta a popular in agriculture. For me, crude oil has always made the Niger Delta people notorious and so crime rate has increased as a result of crude oil that is found in our land.”