The Federal Ministry of Finance has released the N1.1 billion Budget Support Fund of Ekiti State it seized about two weeks ago.
Governor Ayodele Fayose disclosed this, yesterday, in Ado Ekiti. His Chief Press Secretary, Mr Idowu Adelusi, quoted the governor as saying that the Federal Ministry of Finance had communicated with state officials on the release of the money.
“I don’t want to join issues with anybody on the allocation, it is a statutory allocation for all the states, I can confirm to you here that by Tuesday next week, I will get the bank alert for the money, an official communication on the release was passed to me on Thursday,” the governor said. Ayodele Fayose
The state government and officials of the Federal Ministry of Finance had been at logger heads over the non-release of the money. The money had been paid into the account of the state, penultimate Thursday, but withdrawn a day later for reasons not disclosed. The development led to Fayose going to the headquarters of the ministry in Abuja to officially protest the action.
A statement by the ministry said the money was withheld because the state did not fulfill some obligations, a claim promptly denied by the state government. In a swift reaction, the governor , who spoke through one of his aides, Mr Lere Olayinka, said the explanation was an afterthought meant to mislead the public.
Source -Vanguard
