Fayose hosts S/west governors, knocks FG

Ekiti state Governor Ayodele Fayose on Monday knocked the federal government for what he called the paltry sums allocated to the South West geo-political zone in this year’s N7trillion budget.

The governor also wants his  brother governors in the region to look beyond party politics and ask questions as to the beneficiaries, repayment and what the south west stand to gain from the $1billion Euro bond the federal government is planning to obtain.

Fayose who made the remarks at the opening of quarterly meeting of the south west governor’s economic meeting in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, lamented that the only capital project allocated to Ekiti State in the current budget is the  45 kilometre Akure – Ado Ekiti road to which N250 million was earmarked.

"What can N250 million do on Akure – Ado road that is begging for reconstruction? There is even no guarantee that the N250 million budgetary provision will be made available at the end of the day. I am sure this is applicable to other states too compared to other zones," he queried.

Governors at the meeting were Mr. Akinwumi Ambode, Lagos; Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Osun; Senator Isiaka Ajumobi, Oyo; Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, Ondo while the Ogun state governor was represented by the Deputy Governor Yetunde Onanuga.

Fayose, who lauded his guests for attending the meeting in large number, said to move the south west forward, they must respect the political beliefs and opinions of others and not do anything to undermine one another.

While lamenting the menace of herdsmen, Fayose called on the zone to adopt a common strategy to curb this menace "before we are consumed by hunger."

He added, "Apart from the herdsmen, there is also need for us to use our influence to secure assistance from the federal government in the area of construction of dams for irrigation as well as storage facilities. No doubt, if we must make agriculture the mainstay of our economy, as in the time of old, it must be mechanised and we must use our reach and influence to get the federal government to do the needful in the Southwest, as being done in other zones."