turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058
Penultimate Thursday as he swore in his Commissioners, Ondo State’s Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu opened the Pandora box when he revealed that his predecessor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, left an unbelievable debt stockpile of N220billion. Next day, Mimiko fired back through erstwhile Commissioner for Information, Kayode Akinmade, that he, in fact, left N20billion in the State’s coffers. Who, then, is fooling who? It is difficult to believe that Mimiko left that huge sum of money but exited without paying workers eight or so months’ salaries. Akinmade’s explanation is superfluous, to say the least. Why was money idling by when Ondo state workers and pensioners suffered? I remember there was a time the workers went on strike and prevented Mimiko from accessing his office. The workers blockaded the road and Mimiko, like a rain-beaten chicken, sat on the roof of his car trying to placate the irate workers. It cannot be true that the Mimiko administration left N20billion in Ondo state coffers while the workers went without salaries and pensioners without their pensions month after month. That would be callous. Reading through Akinmade’s list of monies left in the coffers, it was not difficult to see sophistry and semantics at work. Monies that could not be spent; monies that were counterpart funds; and monies that belonged to other tiers of government or other agencies were listed as monies left in the coffers. I dare to say that this is fraudulent.
I, however, agree with Mimiko and Akinmade that some of the debts being referred to by Akeredolu could have been carry-overs from previous administrations. Over-borrowing by administrations and piling up of debts for succeeding administrations have become a terrible pastime which must be addressed head-on if government at all tiers are not to continue to reel under the crushing weight of loans and debts. There are few states of the federation that are not reeling under crushing load of indebtedness. The pity of it is that you cannot put your fingers on what those crushing debts were expended on. The most plausible explanation is that such loans were embezzled; yet, the state continues to pay through the nose servicing and repaying them. It is high time we discouraged this evil and patently corrupt practice. We must find a way to prevent governors and presidents from borrowing beyond the capabilities of their entities.
Number two is that we must fashion out a system whereby such loans are put to good use. Many of these leaders take loans or bonds to finance their elections. While I agree that government is a continuum; that does not justify amassing crushing loans that will cripple successor-governments. One of the reasons why many states cannot pay salaries and pensions is because of the heavy debt burdens they carry. Many states have peanuts to take home when their debt obligations are deducted at source. Many states will not end paying back such debts in the next 20, 30 or 40 years – again, with nothing tangible to show for it! What kind of nonsense is that? It must not only stop, those who got their states into such cul-de-sac must be unearthed -and they must be made to face the music.
I recommend Gov. Ayo Fayose’s Ekiti state example to Akeredolu: Set up a high-powered judicial commission of enquiry to look into the finances of Ondo state under the Mimiko administration. Ondo as an oil-producing state should not owe salaries and pensions. It is ridiculous that Ondo under Mimiko fared worse than states that earned far less from the Federation Account. Mimiko must explain in the open what went wrong. Akeredolu owes the state a duty to make this happen. Should he decide otherwise, because of the pledge of soft landing he purportedly gave Mimiko during the election, then, he should forever keep his peace. He will then be treated, fair and square, as an accessory after the fact.
