The Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has faulted the report of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission which said that the state government did not utilise N1,537,575.050.32 of the N9.4bn bailout given to it by the Federal Government.
Mimiko, who spoke through his Commissioner for Information, Mr. Kayode Akinmade, on Tuesday, described the report by the ICPC as misleading, calling on the anti-corruption organ to retract the report.
The governor said his administration added N50m to the N9.4bn it received from the Federal Government before it could meet the payment of outstanding salary arrears till June 2015.
Mimiko said all relevant documents and bank transfers on the disbursement of the bailout were presented to the ICPC officials that came to monitor the disbursement.
He said, "Each claim of payment was investigated and confirmed to be true by the ICPC investigating team and at the end of its visit, the government was commended for its effective, clinical and accurate disbursement of the said bailout."
The governor stated the labour union leaders in the state were duly briefed and that they approved of the disbursement process.
He thus urged the anti-graft agency to correct the misrepresentation.
Condemning the report, Mimiko said, "It is unimaginable that a government that is paying the highest minimum wage to its workers in the country against all odds, would divert a loan given it to enable it fulfil its monthly obligation to the same workers, following the near collapse of the nation's economy which has made the obligation challenging."
