FAYOSE HAS NO EXCUSE FOR UNPAID SALARIES —APC

The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State says Governor Ayodele Fayose has no good reason for not paying workers April salaries. The APC Publicity Secretary in the state, Taiwo Olatubosun, in a statement on Tuesday asked workers to reflect on their experiences while Dr. Kayode Fayemi was the governor. He also urged the workers to ask themselves how the former governor was able to pay them regularly while at the same time servicing debt and

implementing capital projects. He said Fayose could not do either of the two despite not servicing any debt in the last six months.

The statement read, “Governor Fayose has not paid one kobo of Ekiti’s debt since he assumed office. He sought moratorium of six months within which there would be no deduction in Ekiti’s federal allocation.

“That means Fayose saves N500m that Fayemi was paying in debt when he was the governor, therefore, the excuse that Fayemi left a huge debt behind is boring and unconvincing.

“The Federal Government has refunded N22bn that Fayemi spent on federal projects. Another N2bn Ecological Fund has been paid. Fayose denied payment of the Ecological Fund until we obtained contrary information after invoking the Freedom of Information Act. He quickly owned up and two weeks later he announced that he had awarded contracts on ecological disasters across the state where the whole N2bn was spent.

“We are asking Ekiti people to point to any ecological project in their communities to prove the governor right.”

Listing many cost-saving steps the governor took to enable him pay workers and implement his ‘stomach infrastructure’ scheme, the APC spokesman said Fayose cancelled social security scheme involving payment of between N5,000 and 20,000 to elders monthly.

He added, “Fayose scrapped the road transport agency that had 300 operatives. He scrapped peace corps scheme which had 800 workers. He reversed the promotions of 5000 workers and slashed their allowances and running grants, including monarchs’ allowances by 60 per cent.

“He stopped funding security agencies but increased his personal security vote to N200m monthly. He started using streetlights from 7pm to 10.30pm daily which Fayemi did from 6.30pm to 6.30am. He reduced the number of ministries from 19 to 14. He sacked 180 workers in the House of Assembly while nine permanent secretaries in the civil service were sacked.”