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Party wants DMO to make clarification on Ekiti debt figure

By Muyiwa Adeyemi (Head South West Bureau Ado Ekiti)
13 June 2016   |   2:28 am
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has pleaded with the Debt Management Office (DMO) in the Federal Ministry of Finance to make a public clarification on the status ...
Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose

Fayose regrets politicisation of workers’ strike

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has pleaded with the Debt Management Office (DMO) in the Federal Ministry of Finance to make a public clarification on the status of the state’s debts to put to rest inconsistent debt figures being presented by Governor Ayodele Fayose to justify non-payment of workers’ salaries and pensions after taking 20 months federal allocations and N9.6 billion bailout cash.

In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, the party said this became imperative, as the governor had been giving inconsistent figures on different occasions that had cast doubts on the integrity of the state’s financial application.
“In a programme on NTA recently, he put the deductions at N1.5 billion, but again few days later on AIT, he said the figure is N600 million. We make bold to say that Fayose’s claim of N1. 2 billion deductions from Ekiti monthly allocation is total fallacy and Fayose’s creation to justify his inability to pay workers’ salary. ‘’

This is coming as Governor Ayodele Fayose, yesterday regretted that the industrial action embarked upon by the workers to demand payment of their five months salary has been politicised.

He also blamed the inability of the government to pay the workers on the alleged huge debt profile inherited from the immediate past administration, which took N25 billion bonds from the capital market and also took N31 billion commercial loans.

The governor said the strike had been politicised because of his criticism of the bad policies of the Federal Government and his fight against tyranny.

He wondered why some states where workers are owed more salaries than Ekiti are still witnessing the understanding of the situation by labour.

Fayose, who stated this while reacting to the no-shift- ground stance of the striking workers, said about N1.2 billion is being deducted monthly from the state’s allocation to service the loans which the Kayode Fayemi administration took in the course of their four years in the saddle.

The governor stated that if the N1.2 billion being deducted were added to the state’s monthly allocations, his administration would not owe workers.

Speaking through his Chief Press Secretary, Fayose took a swipe at the APC, which he said had been ‎gingering the labour to remain adamant on the issue of the strike.

On Fayose’s claim that the Fayemi administration borrowed another N31 billion commercial loan apart from the N25 billion bond, the party said, nothing could be farther from the truth. Olatunbosun challenged him to provide evidence of this loan and what it was used for as records are there in the office of the Account General if he is sure of his facts.

Fayose said he was surprised that when Fayemi took the loans, which now made payment of workers’ salaries difficult, the labour union did not kick against the moves.

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