Fayose presents N10bn request to Ekiti assembly — one month to handover

Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, has forwarded an appropriation bill of approximately N10 billion to the state house of assembly for approval.

This comes a month to the end of his administration. Kayode Fayemi, governor-elect of the state, would be sworn in on October 16.

Titled “2018 Revised Budget”, the fresh request, which has the governor’s signature, was backdated to August 30.

Assembly sources revealed that the proposal got to the office of the clerk of the parliament at 3.40pm on Monday, September 10.

According to a document attached to the 89-page budget prepared by the ministry of budget, the approved estimates for 2018 stood at N98,611,545,040.66, while the revised estimates sent to the assembly stood at N108,538,072,813.52.

It was gathered that lawmakers who have been on recess since July 16 have been directed by Kola Oluwole, the speaker, to start working on the document.

“The speaker has reached out to some members of the appropriation committee and work has commenced on the bill without recourse to the parliamentary procedure,” the source said.

“The lawmakers are to work on the bill and pass it quietly within the shortest possible time.

“This means the usual parliamentary procedure of first and second readings would be side-stepped. We understand that the governors has already given the lawmakers a deadline to sit and approve his request.”

The governor’s request is said to be the first of its type this year, as no supplementary appropriation bill has been forwarded to the assembly since the passage of the 2018 budget.

Lere Olayinka, spokesman of the governor, could not be reached for comments as he neither answered calls nor replied the text message.