I Didn’t Leave N220b Debt For Akeredeolu, Says Mimiko
Former governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko Thursday denied leaving a whopping sum of N220 billion debt in the state at the expiration of his tenure.
Mimiko, who insisted that he left behind N20 billion in the treasury of the state, noted that his government did not contract any external loan for all of his eight years in office.
The state governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, had on Wednesday, accused the past administration of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko of leaving behind a whopping sum of N220 billion debt.
But, in a statement issued by the former Commissioner for Information in the state, Hon. Kayode Akinmade, the former governor expressed concern over the figures in the speech of his successor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, saying that it was necessary to put the records straight with no malice and or ill-feelings.
Mimiko said, “Of all the listed indebtedness, only the state’s seven -year Bond was directly incurred by our government to build major infrastructure across the State.
“For the avoidance of any doubt, our administration left about N20Billion in the coffers of the state at its exit on February 2017.
“This include: N7.37.Billion in the Current Account; N7.53Billion as Fixed Deposit; N1.2Billion in the MDG Account; $346,000 and 443,000Euro in the Domiciliary Account, including the N825million Sure-P fund at the Local Government Account!”.
Mimiko said the above amount, most of which came late into his tenure, was to be used to offset a chunk of owed salaries before the then Accountant General made a curious disappearance.
His words, “On figures listed as External Debt, it is necessary to state the following: Our administration did not incur any foreign debt in all its 8 years! Also, the External debt stock as at February 2017 was US49,958,268.49, which (if translated at 1 US $ = N305) is N15.23billion. All of these external debt stock was inherited from previous administrations.
“Yes, we experienced the sad reality of salaries arrears like almost all the States of the federation. That is why unpaid salaries for the period of August 2016 to Jan 2017 was N32.40billion, with N20.93 billion owed State Government Workers and N11.469billion owed Local government workers, including political appointees.
“Even at that, it must also be clear that we left office on the 24th February, 2017, while Federal Allocation for February 2017 salaries were received by the incumbent Government on the 28th of February, 2017. We could not have paid February salaries when we did not receive February allocation before exit.
“We assume this may represent contracts awarded by previous governments which were yet to be completely executed since no clear information was offered in the speech on this figure.
“What we know is that if this were so, such figures cannot be considered as debts until such contracts are executed at specified milestones, stages before which payments are not due.
“There can only be debts upon performance. What can be considered a debt, in all good conscience, are the outstanding requests at the Accountant General’s Office.”
The former governor however urged the government and interested citizens of the state to avail themselves of the true state of the indebtedness from the Debt Management Office and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).