Governor Ayodele Fayose has berated the Federal Government over the non-release of his state’s allocation for the month of January.
He said “if they want to fight Fayose, they should fight Fayose not the civil servants of Ekiti.”
Fayose was at the Ministry of Finance to demand the release of his state’s N1.1bn budget support facility for the month of January.
On arrival at the Ministry, Fayose demanded to see the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, but was told she was at the Presidential Villa attending the weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting.
The outspoken governor known to be one of the fierce critics of the current federal government while addressing reporters claimed his state was the only state that was yet to receive its January allocation.
He alleged to have received a text message from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, recently that the money had been paid only to be informed later by the apex bank that his state was not included on the list of states scheduled to get the allocation.
Describing the situation as unacceptable, Fayose said, “I believe I should do a follow up today (Wednesday) to meet with the minister of finance for an update; she actually called me on Tuesday that she just got back but she was going to 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 money during 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 part of the monthly allocation and the budget support fund which is about N1.1bn that has 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 why it should be so.
“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.”
He however, warned that failure to release Ekiti State allocation, he would continue to raise the alarm by bringing the issue to the public domain.
Fayose said, “It is only Ekiti that is involved and this is the second time and that explains why I was suspicious and have to act fast.
“I got a text from the Central Bank of Nigeria 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 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 adhered 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.”
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