by Tunji Andrews

The nation Nigeria on Thursday, took another leap forward in achieving it’s democratic potential as Ayodele Fayose was sworn in as the 4th democratically elected Governor of Ekiti State at the Olu Kayode Stadium in Ado Ekiti. With so much to look forward to, the people of Ekiti looked on with hope as Governor Fayose took the oath as performed by the Chief Judge of Ekiti State, Justice Ayo Daramola.

During his inaugural speech, the new governor spent a lot of time taking pot shots at his predecessor and opposition party the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying he would end the APC’s popularity. He also alleged that he met a virtually empty treasury in Ekiti state, with an N84 billion debt profile.

First, Fayose’s in-depth knowledge of the state of the Ekiti treasury is questionable, noting that first, he had alleged an empty treasury before he assumed office, and his inaugural speech only served as a platform to buttress his allegation. Then, there is the statement he made before where he alleged that he had no idea what was going on with the state’s finances. While speaking with newsmen a few days before his inauguration, the then governor-elect had said, “Well, as I said, I don’t want to join issues with anybody. I only believe that a chapter has come and gone and then a new chapter will open tomorrow (today). The outgoing government has re­fused to cooperate with us in terms of inauguration and my findings have confirmed that­ there is no government account with up to N1 million. The head of service has been here and some permanent secretaries and I asked them. No government account presently in Ekiti has minimum of one million. It’s unfortunate that this is happening, but we are voted to find solutions to the problems and as soon as we take over the government, we shall find solution to it.”

In response to the governor-elect’s allegations, the outgoing commissioner for information, Tayo Ekundayo last Friday denied that the Fayemi administration left a debt of N84 billion and an empty treasury for the state. Ekundayo urged the new administration to study the handover note it received before passing comments on the past administration. Ekundayo further explained that all credit facilities obtained by the immediate past administration were documented and made public.

The facts

YNaija is in possession of the CBN Annual Report, and the Debt Management Office’s Federal and State Government External Debt Stock Report.

As of June 2014, the Debt Management Office of Nigeria published the debt profile of all 36 states of the federation, with Ekiti State posting a debt profile of $48,075,639 (N7,932,480,575.25). This debt profile gives Ekiti the 16th largest debt profile of the 36 states.

Ekiti’s debt profile is significantly lower than that of Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Cross River, Edo, Enugu, Imo and Kaduna states. Other states with a bigger debt profile than Ekiti include, Kano, Katsina, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo states. Also on record was the Ekiti State government approaching the capital market in Lagos to obtain a N25 billion bond which the state says was used in financing various projects. Ekiti made the approach as a result of irregular federal allocation disbursements. Going by the maturity schedules, which are public knowledge, N14 billion of the N25 billion bond, has been paid.

This payment was confirmed by Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the former governor of Ekiti State, who stated that what Ekiti was owing as at October 15 was N36.3 billion; out of which, the sum of N7.830 billion represented foreign loans incurred by previous governments since the days of the old Ondo State.

Prior to assuming office, Ekiti state generated N43,714,282,249.78 in 2010, as total revenue, a figure that jumped 300%, to N126,799,216,503.18 in Fayemi’s first year in office in 2011. The state averaged in revenue generation, N110 billion year-on-year, during his four year tenure.

Total expenditure surplus also jumped 900% from N9.14bn in 2010 to N84.349bn in 2011. This despite having constructed 736.715 kilometres of roads in four years.

Even though this revenue dipped to N13 billion in 2012, Ekiti state has managed to declare a consistent surplus of N10 billion year-on-year. This does bring to question the validity of Governor Fayose’s “empty treasury” allegations.

The question though needs to be asked is if the federal government had been meeting 100% of Ekiti’s federal allocation remittances. The state had in the past lamented that the Federal Government owed it N20 billion under the immediate past administration.

As at the time of sending in this report, all efforts to get a statement from the newly elected governor, or his office, had proved abortive.