From Victor Akinkuolie, Ado-Ekiti
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The immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has disagreed with his successor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, on the debt burden of the state.

Governor Fayemi, in his inauguration address on Tuesday, had said: “Independently verifiable preliminary findings indicate that we (Ekiti State) have been plunged into a debt abyss of over N170billion, with commitments to innumerable white elephant projects, an average of eight months salaries owed across government entities, and many state assets unaccounted for”.

Fayemi had added: “We will ensure that within 100 days from today, Ekiti Kete will know the true position of things, in keeping with our ethos of transparency and accountability in governance. We are not interested in trials by media, witch hunting or playing to the gallery. We will seek out the truth and lay it before our people”.

But Fayose, in a statement by his media aide, Lere Olayinka, said that his administration did not commit the state to any financial institution in form of bonds and commercial loans.

The former governor said that Ekiti State’s indebtedness was under N60 billion, which he alleged was either directly incurred during Fayemi’s first tenure or as a result of the loans restructuring done at the instance of the Federal Government and the Federal Economic Council.

He described the claim by Governor Fayemi that the State was indebted to the tune of N170 billion as untrue.

Fayose gave the breakdown of the state’s indebtedness as follows: Commercial Bank Loan, N2,087,788,065.28; CBN Grant for Water Project, N163,450,000; Excess Crude Account Backed Loan, N9,545,173,472.78; Bailout, N9,083,761,215.40; FGN Bonds, N18,226,699,707.18; State Bonds, N3,484,469,345.51 and Budget Support, N16,869,000,000.

He challenged Fayemi to name the banks being owed the N170 billion and monthly repayment by the State Government to such banks.