Hard times hit Bayelsa as eateries, shops close down

As Bayelsa State workers groan under the heavy weight of unpaid salaries, investigation has revealed that many business concerns, shops and eateries have closed down.

Governor Seriake Dickson has recently been in the eye of the storm over unpaid salary arrears of workers in the public and civil service.

The government is said to be owing the civil servants for two months, while workers in the state’s agencies and parastatals are owed up to five months.

The workers in the local governments in the state are owed between five months and one year.

Currently, three major eateries in the state, unable to break even, due to low patronage and hard economic realities, have closed down.

Also, some traders in major markets in Yenagoa metropolis, particularly those from other states, have relocated, while others are contemplating to follow suit.

Some restaurant operators, who grapple with fuel scarcity,  low patronage, poor power supply and astronomical rise in prices of foodstuffs and other items have put their businesses on hold.

An Igbo trader in Swali Market in Yenagoa Local Government Area  lamented the drop in sales since November last year.

The trader, who identified himself simply as Okafor,  said he had made up his mind to relocate to his state.

Okafor said, “There has been serious lull of activities in this market (Swali). In a whole day, you may not be able to sell items that can guarantee your transport fare back home let alone meeting other transactional needs.

“I deal in electronics. From morning to evening when you will close, your wares will be staring at you. Any day you see customer,  they will haggle and haggle and afterwards will not buy anything.

“When you ask them the reason, they would tell you times are hard, their salaries have not been paid and many other excuses. We cannot continue like this. How do I fend for my family with this development.”

A tricycle operator, Mr. Nnamdi Ejiofor,  said many passengers had now resorted to trekking instead of boarding their tricycles.

“Despite that price of petrol has skyrocketed to N250 in the state, we still find it difficult to see passengers. At times you run some kilometres without finding people to carry. The hard times are hitting tricycle operators real hard, ” he stated.

Commenting on the scenario, a human rights activist, Mr. Alagoa Morris, said the situation mirrored the reality of Bayelsa as a civil service state, stressing that the only industry in the state is the civil service.

Morris said, “The truth of the matter is that there is far less purchasing power in the hands of the residents. Local government workers are owed salaries for seven months and above, state workers are also suffering non-payment of salaries.

“Besides that, state retirees/pensioners are wailing daily over non-payment of gratuity and pension. Contractors too, are not paid and construction sites are abandoned.”

He said when people found themselves in such conditions,  they usually took refuge in any means of survival, including begging to maintain families.

He rationalised that with such unpleasant economic situation, going to eateries was akin to someone sleeping when his or her roof is on fire.

Morris added, “If the Federal Government bailout funds have yet to be released to the state, it should be released without further delays to save the families facing unprecedented hardship in the history of the state.

“But if the fund has been released to the state, it is wicked not to pay workers’ salaries and contractors fees.”

Reacting to the development,  Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Jonathan Obuebite, said the government was worried about the situation as the residents were losing jobs because of the closure of the eateries.

He, however, said the problem was not limited to Bayelsa, insisting that it was a national problem where the economy had nosedived.

He stated, “Nigeria at present is in recession. I want this fact to be known and most people are trying to run away from it. Because if there is no foreign exchange, how can the eateries get most of the things they buy? Some are imported while others are sourced locally.

“Aside that, if our people do not have the resources, the resource is not just civil service. The civil service is less than one tenth of the population.

“So, we are talking about the rest who do not depend on government, who truly depend on the economy of the state.  And government in itself is just policy, it cannot run the economy of the state. Government can only encourage the private sector by providing security and tax rebates and other things that will facilitate the economy to grow on its own.”