DMO, Fayose Disagree over Ekiti Debt Profile

Agency Report/

The Debt Management Office has said that the immediate past administration of Mr Ayo Fayose had a debt profile of about N120 billion as at June.

The revelation about the financial records of Ekiti was contained in a document submitted to the DMO office in Abuja by officials of the state government in July, a copy of which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Ado-Ekiti on Thursday.

NAN, however, reports that the DMO document was contrary to claims by the former governor that his administration left behind a debt profile of less than N60 billion.

The DMO is an agency saddled with the statutory responsibility of coordinating debt profile of all the governments in the country.

NAN reports that Fayose had claimed that Dr Kayode Fayemi’s first tenure as governor plunged the state into a debt burden that would not be paid off until 2036.

The DMO documents, however, revealed that the bond taken by the Fayemi’s administration was almost completely paid off with the first tranche of N20 billion to be completed in October 2018, and the second tranche of N5 billion bond due for payment in 2020.

NAN further, reports that Fayemi had on October 16, during his inauguration announced that his predecessor left behind N170 billion in debt, with a promise to make available the financial situation of the state within his first 100 days in office.

Reacting to the DMO documents, Fayose through his Media Aide, Lere Olayinka, claimed that the state’s debt profile was below N60 billion, saying that the new governor was being “economical with the truth”.

Olayinka, in a statement in Ado-Ekiti on Thursday, claimed that Fayose did not commit the state to any financial institution in form of bonds and commercial loans.

*NAN

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