Fayose misappropriated N251.9b allocation, IGR in 43 months – Group ...allegations not true - Govt
A group, Ekiti Recovery Movement (ERM), has accused Governor Ayodele Fayose of misappropriating the sum of N251.99bn federal allocation and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) since inception.
The group also challenged the governor to make available the state’s true wage bill.
The coordinator, Barrister Olalekan Soyombo, said in Ado Ekiti yesterday that the group was informed at the office of the Accountant General of the state that the state’s monthly wage bill stands at N1.8bn contrary to the N2.6bn of the government.
Quoting statistics from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Fayombo said Ekiti received an aggregate of N223.99bn as allocation in the last 43 months after tax and debt deductions, expressing worry why Fayose had not been able to pay salary and pensions for the past eight months.
The group advised Ekiti electorate to vote massively for the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Kayode Fayemi, in the July 14 election.
But the Ekiti State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Lanre Ogunsuyi, described the allegation as unfounded, saying at no time did the government receive N3bn as monthly allocation since Fayose assumed office.
Ogunsuyi said, “Even at a time, we were getting as low as N1.5bn when the wage bill was undulating between N2.5 and N2.7bn. That is why we are paying in arrears.
“It is worrisome that the government has been spending over 90 per cent of the allocation on payment of salaries and pensions and the fact that the allocations were too paltry accounted for why we have been unable to pay up.”
On IGR, Ogunsuyi said: “Government has not been running any secret account. How do you think Governor Fayose has been able to construct the flyover, did dualisation in eleven councils and tarred roads in some towns even when allocation was not enough to pay salaries?
“The governor was able to do all this through efficient and prudent management of our resources, I mean the ones we got internally and those from the federation account”, he stated.