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The Ekiti Recovery Movement (ERM), an Ekiti State-based pressure group, has asked the governor of the state, Ayo Fayose, to account for a total N251.99billion which allegedly accrued to the state as federal allocation and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) under his watch.
The group also urged the governor to declare the actual wage bill of the state, which he claimed was N2.6 billion as against N1.8 billion which is reported to be the figure on all the documents from the office of the Accountant General of the state.
Addressing a press conference in Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday, its Coordinator, Olalekan Soyombo, said available statistics from the Federal Ministry of Finance revealed that Ekiti had received an aggregate of N223.99 billion as allocation in the last 43 months after tax and debt deductions, querying why Mr Fayose had found it difficult to pay salary and pensions for the past eight months.
Mr Soyombo alleged that it was so pathetic that the state had made an aggregate of N17.2 billion on an average of N400 million monthly under Fayose as IGR, lamenting that the governor allegedly kept the accrual secret.
“Putting the IGR and federal allocation together in the last 43 months, the PDP government has managed N251.19 billion, outside the Paris Club refunds, capital funds, 13 month budget support funds, excess crude oil among others that this government got under President Muhammadu Buhari’s government,” he stated.
“Verifiable facts indicated that the state wage bill is N1.8billion inclusive of political appointees on consolidated salary structure. This equals N77.4b only for 43 months. When you subtract the wage bill from the allocation and add to IGR, the state is left with N173.7billion.
“If we may ask, what then is making the state government to deny civil servants and teachers their salaries and wages in spite of all these huge resources?”
Mr Soyombo also berated the Fayose administration for increasing the tuition fee in Ekiti State University to N180,000 despite the prevailing poverty in the state, saying is smacked of insensitivity .
“At various levels, Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Prof Kolapo Olusola had been approached by many unions and professional bodies, to use his good office as the official superintending over the ministry to intervene on behalf of the students, but unfortunately they decided to embark on unlawful arrest and detention of the student leaders,” said Mr Soyombo.
“As we speak today, a lot of students have dropped out of school, because they can’t afford such humongous fee.
“It is even more disheartening that there is no functional scholarship and bursary facilities that could enable indigent students to have access to education like they did under former governor, Fayemi.”
Dispelling the allegations, the commissioner for information, Lanre Ogunsuyi, said the accusations by the group were unfounded, saying at no time did the government receive N3 billion as monthly allocation since Mr Fayose assumed office.
“Even at a time, we were getting as low as N1.5 billion when the wage bill was undulating between N2.5 and N2.7 billion. That is why we are paying in arrears,” Mr Ogunsuyi said.
“It is worrisome that the government has been spending over 90 per cent of the allocation on payment of salaries and pensions and the fact that the allocations were too paltry accounted for why we have been unable to pay up.”
On the state’s IGR, Mr Ogunsuyi said the government had not been running any secret account as alleged, saying that the governor would not have been able to execute capital projects if not for his prudent management of the resources.
“The governor was able to do all this through efficient and prudent management of our resources, I mean the ones we got internally and those from the federation account,” he added.
Source: Premium Times
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