From WOLE BALOGUN, Ado Ekiti

The Judicial Panel of Enquiry probing the administration of Dr Kayode Fayemi which began hearing on Monday, heard that N163,267,220,48.07 statutory allocations were received by the administration in four years

The panel also heard that the former governor allegedly made N18b unremitted deductions from the allocations received within the period in review.

A witness from the Accountant General’s Office, Mr. Kehinde Odunayo made the disclosure, while tendering documents relating to the alleged receipt and deductions before the Judicial Panel.

The panel was set up by Governor Ayodele Fayose’s government to probe the administration of his predecessor, Dr. Fayemi, who is now the Minister of Steel and Solid Minerals.

Counsel to the Commission, Mr. Sunday Bamise, had earlier told the court that two witnesses, Kehinde from the AG’s Office and one Mr. Adeyinka Arogundade from the Ministry of Finance will give evidence at the panel.

Bamise noted that paragraph (2a) of the terms of reference of the Justice Silas Oyewole (rtd) judicial commission specified the need to present appropriate documentary evidence to ascertain the money that accrued to Ekiti under Fayemi’s administration

The witnesses, in their testimonies, urged the commission to admit as evidence their statements on oath deposed to on July 26, as the financial position of the state between October 2010 and September 2014, when Fayemi was in charge.

The documents were admitted as Exhibits A1 and B1 respectively. Kehinde, Deputy Director, Fund management in AG’s office tendered a document entitled: ‘Total Deductions from FAAC allocations in the time under review,‘ where it was revealed that a total of N18, 684, 785,314,75 was allegedly deducted in 48 months under the last administration and this was tendered and admitted as exhibit A2.

The witness revealed that the state indebtedness under Fayemi in terms of loans and bond was a sum N49 billion, with N25b taken as bond from the capital market and N24 billion as commercial loans from ten banks.

A document that was admitted as Exhibit A13 revealed that the level of loan repayment when Fayemi left the office was N42,691,410,210.37.

He said “as at the time Fayemi left office in 2014, that debt incurred from outstanding workers’ emoluments , comprising pensions and subventions to schools, among others was N13,819,928,727.92.”

Shedding lights on how the money was expended, Arogundade tendered a document that indicated how the N25 billion bond was utilized.

The breakdown of the N20b first tranche of the bond indicated that N468m was to be spent on Ero Dam, Ureje Dam, N500m, building of the school of Agriculture, N750m, Road Construction, N2.6b, building of Lagos Liaison office, N500m, building of modern market in Ado Ekiti, N2b, building of new government house, N633m, new governor’s office, N400m, Ikogosi Warm Spring, N1.5b, Civic Centre, N1 billion, totaling N19.3 billion.”