Aregbesola Left N170.6bn Debt In Osun, Says Former Commissioner

A group, The Osun Mastermind, and a former finance commissioner during ex-governor Rauf Aregbesola’s first term in office, Dr Wale Bolorunduro, on Saturday exchanged words over the group’s demand that Governor Adegboyega Oyetola should publish the state’s debt profile.

The TOM, which spoke through its Executive Director, Dr Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli, had demanded a probe of Aregbesola’s administration and asked Oyetola to publish the state’s debt profile.

Responding to the demand by the group, Bolorunduro, in a statement obtained in Osogbo, accused Oyetola of masterminding the group in a bid to embarrass his predecessor, saying in September 2018, Aregbesola declared the state’s debt profile, which he put at N170.6bn made up of N141.1bn domestic debt and N29.5bn multilateral (external) debt.

He said, “The same figure was mentioned by Oyetola during the 2018 governorship debate and he went further to say that the debt was sustainable. So, what’s the heck? Why is the new jejune group crying more than the bereaved? Why are they dissembling and why can’t they hold Oyetola responsible for his words?

“I don’t have a beef with him disclosing the current level of debt, but he should also disclose the opening balances of the debt components as of November 27, 2018, when he became the governor.

“All that we know was that the components of the debt portfolio handed over to Oyetola were all developmental long-term finance at weighted average interest rate of 11.74 per cent. None of the debts was bank loan or contract finance, whose rate is usually above 20 per cent. So, Oyetola should also tell us when the debt started to become unsustainable.”

In its reply to Bolorunduro, the group in another statement by Oyedokun-Alli, said the ex-commissioner was wrongly giving political identity to its demand, and insisted that since borrowings during Aregbesola-led administration were done with the knowledge of the finance commissioner, he should shed light on how the debt portfolio was arrived at.

The group said, “For emphasis and in case he missed some parts of it, we will summarise the questions below:

“What is the total debt stock of Osun State? What projects were the funds from these debts spent on? Do these projects justify the figure of debts? Dropping to the 35th position in the Financial Sustainability Ranking of Nigerian states in 2017, will Wale Bolorunduro say that the debts were truly sustainable?”

PUNCH.