My Government Left N36 billion Debt, Not N84 billion - -

My Government Left N36 billion Debt, Not N84 billion - -

Posted by Sylvester on Monday, October 20, 2014 0

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The immediate-past governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has dismissed claims of financial recklessness and indebtedness levelled against his administration by the Governor, Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, saying that the state is indebted to the tune of N36.317 billion as at October 15, 2014, when he left office, against an indebtedness of N57 billion.

Fayemi described Fayose’s allegations as “fraudulent claims and deliberate distortion of facts” to paint a dismal state of finance for the state.

Fayose had in his inaugural speech put the state’s debt profile at N57 billion. A day earlier, he had put the figure at N84 billion during a television interview.

Fayemi through his media Aide, Olayinka Oyebode, in a press statement released in Ado-Ekiti yesterday said, “For the avoidance of doubt, the indebtedness of the state as at October 15, is N36, 316 billion. Of this amount, the sum of N7.830 billion represents foreign loans incurred by previous government since the days of the old Ondo State.


“The remaining sum of N28, 485 billion represents internal loan. This includes inherited loans from previous government and outstanding balance (debt) of the bond taken at the capital market.”

Adding that Fayose should have gone through the handover note on his four-year stewardship before making unfounded claims

Continuing, Oyebode wrote, “In spite of this, the Federal Government is owing the state the sum of N17.7billion. This includes N10.8 billion (amount due from construction of federal roads); N4 billion (refund on Paris Club) and N2.8 billion (amount due on ecological projects). If the Federal Government would graciously effect part of this payment, the debt profile of the state would have been greatly reduced,”

Oyebode added: “While Mr Fayose alleged that the state account was in red, the state bank balances as at October 15th stood at N1.9 billion. This comprised N1.46 billion (state account) and N466.9 million (local government account). Also the Bond Sinking Fund Account balance as at September stood at N3 billion.”

“Nothing could be farther from the truth than Mr. Fayose’s allegation that none of the MDA’s account had up to One million naira. For instance, the Ministry of Agriculture’s account is in the excess of N90million, while the MDG account has close to One billion naira”, said the former CPS.

He said in all this, the Debt Management Office (DMO), a federal government agency, still rates the state as one of the least indebted states in the country.

Oyebode maintained that the Fayemi–led administration had in 2011 approached the Capital Market where it raised a N25billion bond which it spent on infrastructure projects which are regenerative in nature.

“Of the sum, about N14 billion has been repaid through the laid down repayment regime. The outstanding balance of the bond money forms part of the N28billion debt profile according to the state’s audited accounts which was published in some national newspapers last week.”