Ekiti decries exclusion in budget support fund, writes FG

Ekiti state government has lamented the failure of the federal government ‎in paying the budget support fund which had affected the state in paying workers salaries.

The Head of Service, Mr Olugbenga Faseluka during an interactive meeting with representatives of civil servants unions in Ekiti State disclosed that out of the 35 states that subscribe for the loan only Ekiti was left out in the January payment of the fund.

He however disclosed that with Ekiti wage bill put at 2.3billion it had been difficult to bridge the gap in payment of workers salary due to the low allocation been received monthly.

“We don’t know why the budget support fund was not released. Information we have is that only Ekiti State was left out from the 35 states that subscribe to the loan, excluding Lagos State . All other states have been paid.”

Faseluka who confirmed that the money as paid and later withdrawn, added that a letter had been sent to the office of the accountant general of the federation to complain on the non-payment of the loan and the state is still expecting response.

Mrs Owolabi, the Accountant general of Ekiti State  said before the present government came into power the internally generated revenue, IGR in the state was put at 250m to 280million naira. He said ekiti can now boost of an IGR of 400million monthly.

She said the state received a total of one billion, five hundred and fourty-eight million, #1,548billion as allocation for the‎ month of January.

The Permanent Secretary in the ministry of finance, Mr Niran Owoseni disclosed that the amount Ekiti State received is far below what the government used in the payment of salaries.

He said government has been using the budget support fund in addition to the monthly allocation to run the state. He however lamented that as at yesterday the loan has not been paid by the federal government. This he said had delayed in the payment of salaries of workers in the state for the month of September.

Reacting to the development the NLC Vice Chairman in Ekiti State, Adeniyi Olugbenga said there is no reason for Ekiti State was denied of the benefit among other states of the federation.

He however suggested that in the interim an alternative source of generating revenue, such as cultivation crops that could generate money should be embarked upon so as to guide against dependency on Federal Government fund.

Olugbenga said ‎Ekiti state needs to cry out so that those concern can intervene in the situation.

The chairman of Trade Union Congress, TUC, in Ekiti State, Comrade Adesoye Adedayo said the money was credited ‎to all the states that applied for it but Ekiti’s money was later withdrawn.

“Till this moment we don’t know why the Federal ggoverment did that. We don’t believe that Ekiti State government is not ready or refused to pay salary. The money wwas credited to all states that subscribed for the loan‎ but only Ekiti was later withdrawn.

Also the Comrade Kayode Akosile pleded that the local governments in Ekiti state should also be included as beneficiaries from the budget support fund. He said if by next week there is no response to the state government’s letter the stakeholders in Ekiti State needs to come together and brainstorm on the next step of action.