Fayose borrowed N56b in three years – Debt Management Office

The Debt Management Office (DMO) has come out with the debt profile of Ekiti State within the three years of Governor Ayo Fayose in power.

According to DMO, Fayose has borrowed a total sum of N56 billion since coming to power on October 16, 2014.

In its latest bulletin released at the weekend, the DMO disclosed that the Fayose administration still had a fresh application of N25 billion in 2017 awaiting consideration.

The publication did not state how the funds were expended but they were believed to have been channeled to capital projects and payment of arrears of workers’ salaries.

Some of the capital projects being executed by the Fayose government include the Ado-Ekiti overhead bridge, new Governor’s Office, new High Court complex, among others.

The DMO disclosed the sources of fresh debts incurred by the Fayose regime to include a summary of new loans, foreign loans, and local bank loans.

The publication which is also available on the DMO website gave a breakdown of loan transactions between October 16, 2014, and December 2016.

This excludes the N25 billion request for 2017 which was yet to be granted.

According to the document, the Fayose government renegotiated all outstanding loans as at December 31, 2014, for 20 years (till 2036) on behalf of Ekiti State in 2015.

For 2015 Ekiti State borrowed loans include new loans of N24, 811, 574, 926.00; foreign loans stood at N2,709,786,898.98 while local bank loans was N22,101,788,065.28.

In 2016, the summary of new loans was N31, 688, 638, 962.30 with foreign loans standing at N2, 705, 737, 050. 37 while local bank loans rose to N28, 982, 901, 911.93.

The summary of total loans in two years, that is, between January 2015 and December 2016 is N56, 500, 213, 924.56.

The summary of foreign loans is N5, 415, 523, 947.35 while the summary of total bank loans incurred by the Fayose administration is N51, 084, 689, 977.21.

The report did not state when the N25 billion applied for by the government in 2017 would be accessed.

The issue of indebtedness has elicited allegations and counter-allegations between the Fayose administration and the immediate past administration led by former Governor Kayode Fayemi.

Fayose has consistently accused Fayemi of plunging the state into debt that outlives his administration.

The issue of alleged indebtedness by Fayemi was the major reason why Fayose set up a Judicial Panel of Inquiry to probe the former administration with the panel submitting its report last week.

The governor had first put the debt allegedly incurred by Fayose at N45 billion before later coming out with another figure of N85 billion to be exited in 2036.

But the DMO cleared the air in one of its earlier bulletins and put the debt left by Fayemi at N18 billion.