Bayelsa state was created out of Rivers state on October 1, 1996 by the General Sani Abacha’s military government. Its name was derived from the first few letters of the names of the major local government areas from which it was formed – Brass LGA (BALGA), Yenagoa (YELGA) and Sagbama (SALGA). Hence BAYELSA was derived from the letters BA + YEL + SA.