Fayose Makes Special Appeal To Buhari Over Bail-Out Funds

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state has opened up on
the bail-out funds which the state was meant to receive
from the federal government, and has appealed for the
further release of the balance.
The controversial governor, who is renown for his vicious
attacks on the Nigerian president, revealed that the state
only got N9.6 billion out of the over N29 billion it applied
for in
bail-out funds for states.
Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state has made a
special appeal to Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu
Buhari
According to The Nation, the governor made these
remarks on Monday during the opening ceremony of a
two-day retreat for commissioners, permanent
secretaries and heads of agencies, in Ikogosi-Ekiti.
Fayose also confirmed that out of the N5.6 billion applied
for by the 16 local governments in the state, the federal
government only approved N991 million.
Idowu Adelusi, the governor’s chief press secretary, who
issued a statement on behalf of the governor, stated that
the clarifications were necessary following rumours that
the governor is deliberately refusing to pay pension
arrears and gratuities of retirees.
The statement read: “You people know that I don’t hide
anything from you when allocations come. We applied for
N29 billion from the bail-out fund. It is to cover the August
and September 2014 salary arrears left by the Fayemi
government, leave bonus, pensions, gratuities and others.
“But for reasons we don’t know yet, the federal government
only approved N9.6 billion for salaries leaving other issues.
“The 16 local governments applied for N5.6 billion and we
did all the necessary papers and presented them to the
appropriate authorities, but only N991 million was approved.
We were later told by the Central Bank of Nigeria that about
14 states had similar problem with the small amount
approved for local governments.
“I have since written to them to rectify the situation and I
hope they will do that quickly. It is only the federal
government that can explain why they only approved one
item, salary, out of the many items we presented to them on
the workers’ issue.
“We have nothing to hide and people should appeal to the
federal government to release the money in full. We know it
is a loan that we will repay with nine per cent interest.
“Last month we had a shortfall of N500 million and this
month we have a shortfall of N600 million. The economy is
dwindling and in bad shape and the federal government must
do something about it urgently.”
The governor, who recently compared immediate past
president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan to Jesus Christ ,
has also asked Nigerians not to politicise the death of late
Chief HID Awolowo.