Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti
state, says contrary to claims by Kayode Fayemi, governor-elect of the state,
the debt of Ekiti is pegged at N59.5 billion.
Reacting to a report by the Debt
Management Office (DMO) that the debt profile of the state had risen from N18
billion when Fayemi left office in 2014 to N117 billion, the governor-elect had
said God would judge Fayose.
But Fayose dismissed DMO’s
position, saying the debt incurred by the state was inherited from Fayemi’s
government.
He challenged Fayemi to provide
details of the N117 billion debt, alleging that the incoming governor is
“preparing excuses for his impending failure”.
“No loan can be granted without
the approval of the Debt Management Office (DMO) and the Federal Ministry of
Finance and that these two offices should publish details of any loan taken by
the Fayose administration, including the banks that granted such loans,” the
governor said in a statement issued on his behalf by Lere Olayinka, his
spokesman.
“Unlike him (Fayemi) who was not
courageous enough to answer questions on his administration before a duly
constituted probe panel, Governor Fayose is not afraid of being probed either by
the State or Federal Government.
“Ekiti State indebtedness stands
at N59.5 billion that was either directly inherited from the Fayemi’s
administration or incurred as a result of the loans restructuring done at the
instance of the federal government and the Federal Economic Council.
“The debts are broken down as
follows:Commercial Bank Loan, N2,087,788,065.28; CBN Grant for Water Project,
N163,450,000; Excess Crude Account Backed Loan, N9,545,173,472.78; Bailout,
N9,083,761,215.40; FGN Bonds, N18,226,699,707.18; State Bonds,
N3,484,469,345.51 and Budget Support, N16,869,000,000.
“Particularly, the N10 billion
grant released from the Excess Crude Account for capital projects was fund that
should normally accrue to all States.”
Olayinka alleged that the federal
government was intentionally withholding the Paris Club refund accruable to
Ekiti, with the intention of paying when Fayemi resumes office.
This, he said, is the reason the
state government is yet to clear its salary backlog.
“Most importantly, we admit that
the state workers are being owed four months’ salary and this was occasioned by
the monthly deductions from the State allocation as a result of huge debt
incurred by the Fayemi administration,” he said.
“Even the N9.5 billion bailout
fund was for the payment of the arrears of salaries and deduction left unpaid
by the Fayemi’s government.”
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