APC faults Fayose’s claim on salary delay

The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has asked Governor Ayodele Fayose to stop peddling lies on e-payment system introduced by former Governor Kayode Fayemi’s administration. The Ekiti State Government on Tuesday began verification of 48,977 workers in the State public service, which would last till next week Monday, while payment of April salary would begin on Wednesday. Special Assistant to the State governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, in a release on Sunday said the verification exercise was aimed at blocking about N500 million being lost to ghost workers monthly through the e-payment system contracted to a private company by the Fayemi administration. But the APC faulted Fayose, saying discrediting the scheme as harbouring ghost workers with attendant inability of the governor to pay workers was another lie to defend his alleged greed, insensitivity and lack of commitment to the welfare of Ekiti workers. The State Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, in a statment on Tuesday said, “The e-payment system is the system embraced all over the world, including many PDP-controlled states and at the Federal level. The e-payment system has proved very effective in Ekiti State as workers were not owed any salary for the period Fayemi was in the saddle. “The system has also been used by Fayose in paying workers since he assumed office; and so when did he suddenly discover that the e- payment system is not good?.” Olatubosun said if there was any system that had the potential to eliminate fraud in salary payment, e-payment was the answer. The statement added, “We are aware of his plans to bring into Ekiti civil service outsiders from Ibadan who are his cronies against the civil service rules. “Ekiti workers should ask Fayose why the same e- payment system ensured their regular salary payment as at when due under the Fayemi administration, but it is now impossible under his administration despite reduction in the work force as many workers, including permanent secretaries, have been sacked. “Many employment schemes that take millions of naira from government’s treasury have been cancelled by the governor, six months moratorium was granted in bond debt repayment, which enables him to save N3bn. “There is 60 per cent cut in running grants and allowances to workers and traditional rulers. This is apart from N22bn refund on federal roads constructed by Ekiti State and N2bn Ecological Fund he had received. The question is; what is Fayose doing with all these funds?.” Olatubosun challenged the governor to tell Ekiti people how much he pays monthly to his Anambra and Ogun states election sponsors who, he alleged, helped him fix June 21, 2014 governorship election. While symphatising with the workers for ‘falling prey to the antics of Fayose’, he urged them to use all legal means to demand for their pay and ‘resist any disguised attempt to sack them as the current verification exercise was another smokescreen for a fraudulent agenda against workers’ interest’.