The Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has dared the federal government to face him squarely for the unending fight and leave workers of his state out of it.
The governor, who visited the headquarters of the ministry of finance today, Wednesday, demanding the release of the state’s N1.1 billion budget support facility for the month of January said: “if they want to fight Fayose, they should fight Fayose, not the civil servants of Ekiti, but I appreciate her promise to resolve the matter.”
The governor, who addressed news men shortly after emerging from the office of the minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who was said to be at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, attending the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, claimed that Ekiti is the only state that had yet to receive its January allocation.
The governor said that many workers in the state are currently suffering the negative impact of the delay in releasing the fund.
“I believe I should do a follow up today (Wednesday) to meet with the minister of finance for an update, but she actually called me on Tuesday that she just got back but will look into it today (Wednesday) and have it resolved as soon as possible.
“You will however appreciate that Ekiti civil servants are restive, having spent Christmas and there is no money in January, obviously there will be challenges.
“By the time I got here, the minister has already gone for the Federal Executive Council meeting, but I met the Special Adviser, who assured me that the matter will be resolved when the minister is back.
“What we are talking about is a part of the monthly allocation and the budget support which is about N1.1bn that have not been paid.
“I believe this should be done immediately and I want to believe also that it was a mix-up and not political. But if it is political, they will have a lot of questions to answer (about) why it should be so.
The governor said that if the promise of the finance minister is not quickly implemented, he would have no other option but to continue to raise the alarm by bringing the issue back to the public domain.
“It is only Ekiti that is involved and this is the second time, that explains why I was suspicious and have to act fast.
“I got a text from the Central Bank of Nigeia that the money has been paid and later I learnt that there is a withdrawal of that instruction that Ekiti was not included in the list out of the entire Federation.
“So, naturally I have to be and when it happened that it was just Ekiti State alone, I have to be suspicious. The minister has given me her word, at her level as a minister, that is good enough.
“If the promise of the minister to resolve this issue as quickly as possible is not adhere to, I will have to bring it back to the public domain.
“We are all in the court of the public opinion where the public is able to judge whether justice is served at all times. Governance is beyond all of us but I want to believe that they will do it.” [myad]
