Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has forgiven the 31 civil servants who resumed late to work on Monday.
The governor announced this on Wednesday at a meeting with public servants in Ado Ekiti, where the projected plan to take the bailout funds of the Federal Government was discussed.
He said, "I am begging workers to get to work on time. If we are paying salaries on time, then civil servants must also reciprocate by coming to work on time.
"Also, people must be ready to pay rates, taxes and levies. If civil servants are paying taxes, others should pay as well. Our IGR must improve," he stated.
The governor explained that rolling over the debts and commitments of the state with the nine per cent interest on the bailout would be too taxing.
"They say they are restructuring N18.8 billion of our commercial loans and with the 9 per cent interest, by the time the money is repaid in 20 years, we would have paid an extra N36billion as interest. That means the N18 billion would have become N56 billion.
"I am addressing you on the issue so that before I commit the state to taking the loan, I have to get your permission. The main consequence of the bailout is that it is from same monthly allocation from the federal that we will accommodate servicing the N25 billion bond we inherited from the previous administration.
"When allocation comes and they are deducting from source, do not say I did not tell you. I set up a technical committee to see to how we disburse monthly allocations coming to the state. The committee has members drawn from labour unions, tertiary institutions among others. We do this to allow for transparency in the system," he said.
Meanwhile, a picture of controversial Ayodele Fayose had surfaced on the internet earlier today showing the governor checking the licenses of motorists in Ekiti state.