Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose, yesterday, held a meeting with workers in the state to discuss whether the state should take the bailout funds being planned for states by the Federal Government.
Speaking at the meeting in Ado-Ekiti, the governor expressed concern about the bail out funds would aggravate the debt profile of the state.
“Even with the 9 percent interest on the fund, rolling it over with the debts and commitments the state already had would be too burdensome.
“They say they are restructuring N18.8 billion of our commercial loans and with the 9 per cent interest, by the time the money is repaid in 20 years, we would have paid an extra N36 billion as interest. That means the N18 billion would have become N56 billion.
“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 bail out is that it is from same monthly allocation from the federal that we will accommodate servicing the N25bn bond we inherited from the previous administration, that bail out itself and commercial loans.
“When allocation comes and they are deducting 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.
Meanwhile, the governor pardoned the 31 Civil Servants caught coming late to work on Monday.
Reacting to the poor attitude of some workers, Fayose said he noted that there was need for a change of attitude, saying workers should get to work on time, since the state government pays their salaries as at when due.
“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,” Fayose stated.