Fayose Storms Finance Ministry Over ‘Non-payment’ Of Allocation

[caption id="attachment_16715" align="alignnone" width="750"]Governor Ayodele Fayose speaks to journalists[/caption]

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, on Wednesday stormed the Federal Ministry of Finance headquarters in Abuja over alleged failure of the Federal Government to pay his state’s January allocation of N1.1 billion.

Fayose, who briefed newsmen shortly after the visit said he was in the Federal Capital Territory to “follow-up” on the payment which he said his state merited just like all other states in the country.

He said: “I believe I should do a follow-up today (yesterday) to meet with the Minister of Finance for an update because she actually called me  on Tuesday that she just got back but she is going to look into it today (yesterday) and have it resolved as soon as possible.

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“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 had already gone for the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting, but I met the Special Adviser, who assured me that the matter will be resolved when the Minister returns.

“What we are talking about is part of the monthly allocation and the budget support which is about N1.1billion 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 politically motivated but if it is political, they will have a lot of questions to answer why it should be so.

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“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 promptly.

“So, naturally I have to be here when it happened to be 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.”

Meantime, the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ekiti State has challenged the governor to come out with the truth about his allegation, as they believe that what was withheld is the special funds approved by the Federal Government for budget support intervention to the states and not the state’s January allocation as claimed by the governor.

The APC accused the governor of misinforming the people of Ekiti State, for faulting the Federal Government for his inability to pay workers.

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