I borrowed 7bn from friends to pay may salaries: gov Abiodun

- Governor Dapo Abiodun says his administration met an almost empty treasury making him resort to borrowing to pay salaries of workers in May 2019

- Abiodun says he got N7 billion credit facility after calling managing directors of five banks to tell them he needed to pay salaries

- The governor promises not to complain about what his administration inherited from that of Ibikunle Amosun

Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun, on Monday, June 24, lamented that he met nothing in the treasury of the state adding that friends came to his rescue lending him N7 billion to pay the salaries of workers for May, 2019.

Abiodun, who was sworn in to office on May 29, said his predecessor, Ibikunle Amosun, left an empty treasury thus making him resort to calling friends for the needed assistance.

The Nigerian Tribune reports that the governor made the revelation during a stakeholders meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

Governor Abiodun said he would have owed workers salaries for May 2019, if not for the intervention.

“We realized that it was the 31st day of the month and I intended to keep my end of the tripartite agreement. I called the Head of Service (HoS) and I told him that we must pay a salary. But he said to me that ‘you’re new in government and everybody understands that you just assumed office and we don’t have that expectation of you paying salary now. They (workers) will understand. There is very little or no money. We can talk to them’.

“But I told the HoS: ‘Either they are expectant or not, it is my promise to the people that salary will be paid as and when due’,” Abiodun said.

The governor added that he picked his phone and called his friends who are managing directors at different banks and told them he needed to pay salaries and that the state had almost nothing in its account.

He said he requested for a credit facility to allow me to pay over N7 billion which is the state’s wage bill.

“That day, my intention was that maybe one or two will oblige me, but the five banks that I called obliged me,” he said adding that he felt a sense of fulfillment after paying the salaries.

Governor Abiodun promised that his administration would ensure that pensions contributions are remitted to the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) as against what happened before his emergence.

While promising good governance and welfare of workers, he added that he would not say anything bad about the last administration in the state.

“I cannot begin to describe in the open to you the Ogun state that we inherited and I will not because I have made up my mind that publicly and privately, I will not discuss anything about that past administration.

“We have by far, too many things to do than to begin to be bogged down by what someone did or what he did not do or what he left behind. We have resolved to draw the line and to move forward from there. We need to be focused,” he said.

Legit.ng earlier reported how Governor Dapo Abiodun recently promised to bring the vision of Moshood Abiola to reality.

Abiodun stated this on Wednesday, June 11, during the June 12 anniversary commemoration and 2019 Democracy Day celebration, held at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta.

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Source: Legit.ng