Governor Ayo Fayose
of Ekiti State may have run into fresh trouble with Federal Government after it
was found that he collected the sum of N8.877 billion from the
N388.304 billion
released to 35 states as refunds from over-deductions on London-Paris Club
loans but only paid one out of the eight-month salary arrears he owed workers
in the state.
Fayose was also said
to have paid a curious 13th month salary as bonus while the arrears of
seven-month salaries owed the workers were left unpaid. Seriously?
A source in the
Presidency, who spoke in confidence with The Nation, said President Muhammadu
Buhari has lived up to his pledge to ease salary crises in all the states by
releasing N388.304 billion to 35 states but many of the states failed to abide
by the agreement they had with the President that they would give preference to
settling arrears of workers’ salaries.
The Presidency
source said: “The agreement between the Federal Government and the state
governors was very clear.
“While 50 per cent
of the amount released was to be used to offset outstanding salary and pension
arrears, the remaining 50 per cent would be used for the payment of other
obligations.
“Some governors have
however reneged on this agreement.
“Security reports
available to the Presidency showed that Governor Ayodele Fayose paid only one
month out of eight-month salary arrears.
“The same governor
went ahead to pay a curious 13-month salary to Ekiti workers. Yet, he got
N8.877 billion refund.
“Instead of
accounting for what he used the loan refund for, he has the temerity to attack
the Federal Government on hardship in the country.
“The relevant
agencies are monitoring development in Ekiti and some states.”
Reacting to the
allegation on the telephone yesterday, Ekiti State Commissioner for Finance,
Toyin Ojo, admitted that the state got N8.8 billion from the Paris Club
refunds.
But he said that the
state’s share of the money was only N5.3 billion, which he said could barely
pay one month out of the arrears of salaries owed the civil servants in the
state.
According to him,
the wage bill for a month stands at N5.2 billion.
He also said that
workers in the local government sector could only get one month from the
arrears of salaries owed them.
The Federal
Government had released the sum of N388.304 billion out of N522.74 billion
to 35 states as
refunds of over-deductions on London-Paris Club loans.
Topping the list of
states with the hugest reimbursements are states controlled by the opposition
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), contrary to their claims that they were being
financially oppressed by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The biggest earners
include Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Katsina, Kaduna, Lagos, Imo, Jigawa,
Borno, Niger, Bauchi and Benue states.
But the
reimbursement profile has shown that some governors fed their states with wrong
figures of the sums given to them.
Investigation
conducted by our correspondent revealed that 35 of the 36 states benefitted from
the refunds of N388.304 billion.
Although most of the
governors have begged the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, not to make
the list of reimbursements public, The Nation was able to source the breakdown
of the reimbursements exclusively.
The document
indicated that all the 35 states were credited with their shares of the
N388.304 billion as at December 27, 2016.
Our correspondent
obtained the names of the bank, the account and the account numbers where each
state’s share was remitted.
Only Kano State and
the FCT have so far not benefitted from the reimbursements.
According to the
list, Kwara State got two types of refund totaling more than N9.188 billion.
Kwara’s shares
include N5,415,167,236.97 refund to the state government and N3,773,082,953.54
for its 16 local government areas.
Findings also
confirmed that Ondo was only paid 50 per cent of its refunds
(N6,513,392,932.28) because of leadership change in the state, which will soon
lead to the inauguration of Chief Rotimi Akeredolu as the new governor.
A breakdown of the
list of top beneficiaries of the refunds is as follows:
The document said:
“Ondo payment represents 50 per cent of the refund due to transition of
leadership in the state. Further instructions are being awaited on balance payment.
“Adamawa, Kwara 22b
on the list, Oyo and Taraba payments represent the portions due to the
respective local governments.”
But the Presidency
was uncomfortable with the attitude of some state governors to the management
of the refunds.
Responding to a
question, another source in government said: “It is unfortunate that some state
governors under-declared the refunds made to them. Some of them were also
discovered to be giving spurious analysis in order to cover up the actual
figures."
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