By Chinasaokwu Helen Okoro
The Spokesman to Osun State Governor, Olawale Rasheed, has said his principal is governing the state without drawing credit facilities and without taking security votes.
Olawale, in a statement obtained in Osogbo on Friday, said the clarification was in response to figures credited to some opposition politicians, who had alleged governor Ademola Adeleke, of increasing Osun debt and of accessing security votes to the tune of billions of naira.
Rasheed who said the allegation was mischievous, said Adeleke is pursuing his many governance initiatives within the confines of available resources from federal allocations and internally generated revenue.
The statement partly read, “The Debt Management Office is the national debt data repository. According to the DMO, Osun owed foreign lenders the sum of $91,779,393.97 as of December 31, 2022, and by December 31, 2023, the external debt profile of Osun stood at $87,247,488.51.
From the figures above, Osun’s external debt dropped. The noticeable difference in the naira value of Osun’s external debt was due to the significant devaluation of the naira. In 2022, a dollar averaged at N460, and so on. The naira value of $91,779,393.97 Osun’s external debt in 2022 was N41bn compared to 2023 when a dollar averaged N1,400, which is essentially why despite the fact that Osun’s debt reduced to $87,247,488.51, the naira equivalent was N78bn”, Olawale narrated.
On the allegation of security services votes included in the uploaded budget performance report, let me clarify that the subhead only referred to the cost of various security services and operations across the state which is different from the conventional concept of security votes as drawn by most state governors.
“The security service funds in the identified subhead were used among other interventions to service special peacekeeping operations, provide logistics support to quench inter communal clashes and support the operations of the different security agencies across the state.”
He added that the funds meant for various security related services are accessed through normal approval processes with appropriate records kept.
“We however firmly affirm that Mr Governor did not and is not drawing any personal security votes as is the convention before his assumption of office. This is in line with his avowed commitment to free state resources to execute his ambitious five point agenda,” he averred.
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