12th October, 2019
The Ekiti State Government has said that the huge debt it inherited from the previous administration constrained it from fulfilling its promise to clear emoluments and salary arrears owed workers within one year.
Muyiwa Olumilua, the state Commissioner for Information and Value Orientation, said this in Ado Ekiti on Saturday at a news conference to announce activities to mark the first anniversary of the Governor Kayode Fayemi-led administration in the state.
Olumilua said that that the former GovernorAyodele Fayose-led administration left a huge debt of N57 billion as arrears of unpaid salaries and other benefits.
He said that other debts also left by the last administration totalled N156 billion.
Olumilua reiterated the commitment of the present administration to defray the N57 billion owed by the last administration, being the accumulation of outstanding salaries of workers, pension, gratuities and other emoluments.
“We actually thought things were not as bad as we later found them to be, and it will be unfair on the part of government to focus the little resources within its reach on payment of salaries alone.
“We have tried all we could to fulfil part of the promise, as you can see Governor Fayemi has ensured regular payments of salaries since we came into the office one year ago on October 16, 2018.
“Recall that before the advent of this administration, workers were owed salaries for reasons known to them, and all they were getting were small bags of rice and between N200 and N500 under the stomach infrastructure scheme.
“We have been able to change the narratives”, he said.