The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has pardoned the 31 workers that came late to work on Monday.
The governor announced this at a meeting with public servants in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday, where the proposed plan to take the bailout of the Federal Government was discussed.
He said, “I am begging workers to get to work on time. If we are paying salaries on time, then civil servants must also reciprocate that by coming to work on time.
“Also, 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,” he stated.
The governor explained that rolling over the debts and commitments of the state with the nine per cent interest on the bailout would be too burdensome.
“They say they are restructuring N18.8bn of our commercial loans and with the nine per cent interest, by the time the money is repaid in 20 years, we would have paid an extra N36bn as interest. That means the N18bn would have become N56bn.
“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 bailout is that it is from same monthly allocation from the Federal Government that we will accommodate servicing the N25bn bond we inherited from the previous administration.
“When allocation comes and they are deducted 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.
In his address, the Head of Service, Dr. Gbenga Faseluka, promised the cooperation of civil servants to the government.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Bishop Felix Ajakaye, has emphasised the need for a forum to assess the state of education in the Ekiti, saying there is urgent need for it to be repositioned and revitalised.
The cleric spoke in Ado-Ekiti when the governor visited him on the proposed education summit in the state. He said education was the only means to tackle poverty in the society.
