The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has pardoned the 31
workers that came late to work on Monday.
The governor announced this at a meeting with public
servants in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday, where the proposed plan
to take the bailout of the Federal Government was discussed.
He said, “I am begging workers to get to work on time. If we
are paying salaries on time, then civil servants must also
reciprocate that by coming to work on time.
“Also, people must be ready to pay rates, taxes and levies. If
civil servants are paying taxes, others should pay as well. Our
IGR must improve,” he stated.
The governor explained that rolling over the debts and
commitments of the state with the nine per cent interest on
the bailout would be too burdensome.
“They say they are restructuring N18.8bn of our commercial
loans and with the nine per cent interest, by the time the
money is repaid in 20 years, we would have paid an extra
N36bn as interest. That means the N18bn would have become
N56bn.
“I am addressing you on the issue so that before I commit the
state to taking the loan, I have to get your permission. The
main consequence of the bailout is that it is from same
monthly allocation from the Federal Government that we will
accommodate servicing the N25bn bond we inherited from the
previous administration.
“When allocation comes and they are deducted from source,
do not say I did not tell you. I set up a technical committee to
see to how we disburse monthly allocations coming to the
state. The committee has members drawn from labour unions,
tertiary institutions, among others. We do this to allow for
transparency in the system,” he said.
In his address, the Head of Service, Dr. Gbenga Faseluka,
promised the cooperation of civil servants to the government.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Bishop Felix
Ajakaye, has emphasised the need for a forum to assess the
state of education in the Ekiti, saying there is urgent need for
it to be repositioned and revitalised.
The cleric spoke in Ado-Ekiti when the governor visited him on
the proposed education summit in the state. He said
education was the only means to tackle poverty in the
society.