Former Governor of Ekiti, and current flag bearer of the All Progressive Congress in the forth coming gubernatorial election Kayode Fayemi and incumbent Governor of the state Ayodele Fayose have traded blames on who was responsible for the debt the state has incurred in the past few years.
The duo have heated up the state’s political atmosphere recently, as they brace up for the forth coming gubernatorial election, where the current Deputy Governor of the state Kolapo Olusola supported by the incumbent Fayose would be contesting against Mr fayemi and other candidates of contesting political parties.
The people’s democratic Party (PDP) revealed that, The debt of the state incurred by the Kayode Fayemi’s administration from 2010 to 2014 has gulped the state’s funds of about N35.34 billion in servicing of the debts and deductions from statutory allocations
In the defense of its party aspirant, the All Progressive Congress (APC) denied that such allegation was false and the monetary figure published by the PDP government of Ayodele Fayose were inaccurate
In a recent statement by the Elite state PDP chairman Gboyega Oguntuase, he stated that the debts incurred by the Fayemi administration, has caused that the state servicing the debts with an average of N1.1 billion monthly, adding that about 40 per cent of the state’s allocation was deducted from source monthly.
He asserted that documents gotten from the debts management office and the finance ministry, agencies which are responsible for debt management and statutory allocation indicated that the debt were incurred under several disguise during Fayemi’s reign as Governor.
Mr Oguntuase stated that in 2015 the sum of N7.85 billion was deducted from the state’s allocations. Also in the year 2016, it was N11.30 billion, and last year the amount deducted was N12.12 billion.
He pointed out that in the current year, between the months of January and May, the sum deducted so far amounts to N4.94 billion.
Oguntuase emphasized that the administration of Ayodele Fayose have paid off the commercial agriculture credit scheme, but are yet to pay off others and some of the debt would run till 2036.
He stated that the implications of such huge debt profile was the backlog of salary this present administration owed and some other developmental project that the people would have benefited from, which have it was not able to implement.
The debts incurred allegedly went into Contractual obligations, fertiliser, foreign loans, bond, commercial agriculture credit scheme, water project, restructuring of bank loans, excess crude loan among others and some they refused to pay before vacating the office in 2014, he said.
He further alleged that some of the borrowed loans with a particular heading were misappropriated and some other initiated programmes failed woefully.
He said “We all know the N25 billion they borrowed from the Capital Market to finance some projects, but where are the projects? They never built any Governor’s Office. They did not build a new Ojaba Market, they did not complete their event centre. Even the state pavilion was not fully completed.”
In defense of the former Governor and aspirant in the forth coming election, Mr. kayode Fayemi, Media Director Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation Wole Olujobi, clarified that figures from the debts management office indicated that the loans incurred by this current administration in the last three years was estimated to be about #56 billion.
Although he admitted that Fayemi’s administration borrowed N25 billion which was to be defrayed within seven years, he acknowledged that records available at the Debts Management Office showed that Fayemi paid back N14.5 billion of the debts, leaving the balance of N10.5 billion before he left office on October 16, 2014,”
The Media Director revealed that all the projects that benefitted from the loan could be verified . He said such projects included road construction across the State, rehabilitation of schools and hospitals world standard Ikogosi Resort that has again been looted, Ire Burnt Bricks Company, Igbemo Asphalt Plant, water projects, new Government House, Pavilion, Civic Centre that Fayose has abandoned, among several others.
He asked further that “if the official debt figure were as stated above, how did they come about N35.34 billion to service the debt of N10.5 billion.
