TheCable

Dapo Abiodun, governor of Ogun state, says he took a loan of N7 billion to pay workers’ salaries in May.

Abiodun, who disclosed this while addressing leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, said he met no money in the treasury.

The governor said he cannot disclose details of the situation he met upon assumption of office but that he would not preoccupy himself with discussing the previous administration.

He said he would rather focus on providing good leadership for the state and its people.

According to him, he reached out to his friends who are managing directors of banks to seek the loan to pay salaries after the state head of service told him that they had “very little or no money” in the treasury.

“May 30 was our first day in office. And on the 31st, it dawn on me that it was the end of the month and we need to pay salaries,” Abiodun said.

“But here we are on our second day in office. I don’t even have an office; I don’t even know how to sign any document; I don’t even know what the protocols are. Suddenly, we realised it was 31st and I intend to keep my end of the tripartite agreement.

“So, I called the head of service; I told him we must pay salary. But he said to me, ‘You are new in government and everybody understands that you just assumed office and we don’t have that expectation of you paying salaries now. They (workers) will understand. There is very little or no money. We can talk to them.’

“I told the head of service, whether they (the workers) were expectant or not, it was my promise to the people that salaries would be paid as and when due.

“So, I picked my phone and called my friends who are MDs in different banks. I told them I needed to pay salaries and this is the little I have; almost nothing in the state account.

“I requested for a credit facility to allow me to pay over N7bn which is the state wage bill. That day, my intention was that maybe one or two will oblige me, but the five banks I called obliged me.

“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.

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

“We have resolved to draw the line and to move forward from there. We need to be focused. We are going to rebrand and re-launch the security trust fund.”

Gbenga Daniel, former governor of the state, had asked Abiodun to probe projects implemented by Amosun’s administration.

On his part, Amosun said Daniel, his predecessor, handed over a state characterised by deplorable infrastructure and insecurity to him in 2011.