Guys this might be long but you need to check it out: article not written by me.
The nation Nigeria on Thursday, took another leap
forward in achieving it’s democratic potential as
Ayodele Fayose was sworn in as the 4th
democratically elected Governor of Ekiti State at
the Olu Kayode Stadium in Ado Ekiti. With so
much to look forward to, the people of Ekiti
looked on with hope as Governor Fayose took the
oath as performed by the Chief Judge of Ekiti
State, Justice Ayo Daramola.
During his inaugural speech, the new governor
spent a lot of time taking pot shots at his
predecessor and opposition party the All
Progressives Congress (APC), saying he would
end the APC’s popularity. He also alleged that he
met a virtually empty treasury in Ekiti state, with
an N 84 billion debt profile.
First, Fayose’s in-depth knowledge of the state of
the Ekiti treasury is questionable, noting that first,
he had alleged an empty treasury before he
assumed office, and his inaugural speech only
served as a platform to buttress his allegation.
Then, there is the statement he made before
where he alleged that he had no idea what was
going on with the state’s finances. While speaking
with newsmen a few days before his inauguration,
the then governor-elect had said, “Well, as I said,
I don’t want to join issues with anybody. I only
believe that a chapter has come and gone and
then a new chapter will open tomorrow (today).
The outgoing government has refused to
cooperate with us in terms of inauguration and
my findings have confirmed that there is no
government account with up to N1 million. The
head of service has been here and some
permanent secretaries and I asked them. No
government account presently in Ekiti has
minimum of one million. It’s unfortunate that this
is happening, but we are voted to find solutions
to the problems and as soon as we take over the
government, we shall find solution to it.”
In response to the governor-elect’s allegations,
the outgoing commissioner for information, Tayo
Ekundayo last Friday denied that the Fayemi
administration left a debt of N84 billion and an
empty treasury for the state. Ekundayo urged the
new administration to study the handover note it
received before passing comments on the past
administration. Ekundayo further explained that
all credit facilities obtained by the immediate
past administration were documented and made
public.
The facts
YNaija is in possession of the CBN Annual Report,
and the Debt Management Office’s Federal and
State Government External Debt Stock Report.
As of June 2014, the Debt Management Office of
Nigeria published the debt profile of all 36 states
of the federation, with Ekiti State posting a debt
profile of $48,075,639 (N 7,932,480,575.25). This
debt profile gives Ekiti the 16th largest debt
profile of the 36 states.
Ekiti’s debt profile is significantly lower than that
of Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Cross River, Edo, Enugu,
Imo and Kaduna states. Other states with a
bigger debt profile than Ekiti include, Kano,
Katsina, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo
states. Also on record was the Ekiti State
government approaching the capital market in
Lagos to obtain a N25 billion bond which the
state says was used in financing various projects.
Ekiti made the approach as a result of irregular
federal allocation disbursements. Going by the
maturity schedules, which are public knowledge,
N 14 billion of the N25 billion bond, has been
paid.
This payment was confirmed by Dr. Kayode
Fayemi, the former governor of Ekiti State, who
stated that what Ekiti was owing as at October
15 was N 36.3 billion; out of which, the sum of
N 7.830 billion represented foreign loans incurred
by previous governments since the days of the
old Ondo State.
Prior to assuming office, Ekiti state generated
N 43,714,282,249.78 in 2010, as total revenue, a
figure that jumped 300%, to N126,799,216,503.18
in Fayemi’s first year in office in 2011. The state
averaged in revenue generation, N 110 billion year-
on-year, during his four year tenure.
Total expenditure surplus also jumped 900% from
N 9.14bn in 2010 to N84.349bn in 2011. This
despite having constructed 736.715 kilometres of
roads in four years.
Even though this revenue dipped to N13 billion in
2012, Ekiti state has managed to declare a
consistent surplus of N 10 billion year-on-year.
This does bring to question the validity of
Governor Fayose’s “empty treasury” allegations.
The question though needs to be asked is if the
federal government had been meeting 100% of
Ekiti’s federal allocation remittances. The state
had in the past lamented that the Federal
Government owed it N20 billion under the
immediate past administration.
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