Fayose accuses Fayemi of diverting workers’ salary

EKITI State Government and governor-elect, Ayodele Fayose, yesterday, traded words over alleged diversion of workers’ salaries to pay government contractors.

While Fayose claimed Governor Kayode Fayemi was diverting workers’ salaries to pay contractors, Fayemi on his part, said he knew nothing about such diversion because government would not give priority to contractors over workers.

Fayose in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, in Ado Ekiti, claimed workers in the state were being made to suffer unjustly as the state government was diverting funds meant to pay their salaries for the payment of contractors and severance allowance political appointees by Fayemi.

File: Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti (l) and Governor-Elect, Mr Ayo Fayose, during Fayose’s visit to the Governor in Ado-Ekiti

According to the statement: ‘’The governor does not need to rob Peter to pay Paul. He owes workers in the state backlog of salary arrears and he has not paid them. Instead of paying workers, the administration is focusing on paying government contractors. The word of God says a labourer is worth his wages and those who are working for the state must not be denied their dues.

“The government must not waste further time in paying these hapless workers and save their families from hunger. If the government is using statutory allocations and other revenue to pay contractors and the severance benefit of the governor’s appointees, then what stops the state from paying workers?

Reacting through the Commissioner for Information, Tayo Ekundayo, Fayemi said it was not aware of any contractor being given top priority insisting that the government would ensure that it paid according to availability of funds.

According to him, “We have said it several times that we have paucity of funds because of dwindling money from the Federal Government. Beside, the arrangement we had with banks to pay salaries was thwarted by the Peoples Democratic Party. But I can assure you that we will pay according to the available funds at our disposal.”