NGScorecard

Promised to create a dedicated state security outfit to complement conventional police and tackle insecurity across Bayelsa's creeks and communities.

Diri signed the Bayelsa State Community Safety Corps (BYCSC) bill into law in December 2021, merging Operation Doo-Akpo, the Bayelsa State Volunteers, and the Bayelsa Vigilante into one outfit, and inaugurated its first batch of 603 trainees in February 2023. However, corps members are unarmed and cannot prosecute offenders, limiting their effectiveness against organised crime and oil theft.

Promised to work with federal security agencies to end the crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism that has drained state and federal revenue and devastated the environment.

Oil theft has persisted throughout the administration despite a Joint Monitoring Team with the Defence Headquarters; Diri has publicly expressed surprise at reports implicating the military itself in oil theft in the Niger Delta, while more recently crediting the military with 'changing the narrative' on bunkering — a claim not independently verified by production-volume data.

Promised to revitalise agriculture — particularly rice, cassava, and oil palm production — to reduce Bayelsa's near-total dependence on oil revenue.

The administration has promoted new agricultural partnerships and investment drives in rice, cassava, and oil palm, but comprehensive independently verified production or economic-diversification outcome data was not identified for this entry.

Promised to reduce Bayelsa's heavy reliance on federal oil-derivation allocations by growing the state's own revenue base.

Bayelsa's IGR grew by 425.5% between 2020 and 2024, reaching ₦64.01 billion in 2024, according to BudgIT-cited NBS analysis.

Implicit obligation to keep the state's debt-service obligations manageable relative to its own revenue, given Bayelsa's heavy dependence on volatile oil-derivation income.

Bayelsa's debt-service expenditure exceeded its IGR by more than 300% in Q1 2025, and the state has been identified among those requiring more than five times their IGR to meet operating costs and among seven states spending over 190% of revenue on loan servicing.

Promised to complete strategic road projects, including those inherited from previous administrations, to improve connectivity across the state's riverine terrain.

The administration made progress on the Yenagoa-Oporoma-Ukubie Road, one of three strategic roads inherited from past administrations, alongside other infrastructure works; comprehensive independently verified completion data across the full road portfolio was not identified for this entry.

Promised flagship infrastructure including a bridge connecting Angiama and an independent power project to improve electricity access.

As of mid-2026 the Angiama Bridge was reported near completion and the 60-megawatt Independent Power Project's commissioning was described as imminent, but neither had been confirmed as fully delivered and operational as of this update.

Implicit obligation to ensure relief materials for flood victims and vulnerable communities reach their intended recipients without diversion.

Following the devastating 2022 floods, Diri ordered the SSG, Chief of Staff, and Community Safety Corps coordinator to investigate reports that politicians had diverted palliatives meant for wards and local government areas through BYSEMA, but the government was later reported to have gone quiet on the outcome of that probe.

Implicit obligation to comply with valid court judgments against the state government, including on contract and land disputes.

The Bayelsa State Government and its Attorney-General faced a contempt hearing over failure to pay a ₦1.06 billion court-ordered judgment debt to a contractor, and separately lost a land case in which the court found the state's occupation of disputed land illegal and unconstitutional — a ruling that was followed by death threats against the winning lawyer and the abduction of the presiding judge, raising serious rule-of-law concerns.