The lawmaker representing the Osun East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Francis Fadahunsi, has called on the National Assembly and the Osun State House of Assembly to stop the administration of Governor Gboyega Oyetola from borrowing.
The senator also asked the federal and state lawmakers to investigate how the present administration in Osun State had spent earlier funds borrowed.
His Special Assistant on Youth Affairs and Employment, Kozeem Olusola, claimed, in a statement issued on Monday, that the Oyetola-led administration had nothing to show for the huge debts that it had incurred.
According to him, workers are not getting promotion as and when due, some are receiving half salary, while infrastructural decay dotted the state.
He added that pensioners had been denied their entitlements and claimed that there had been an increase in unemployment rate, saying the government had been unable to recruit workers into the Civil Service for many years.
The lawmaker accused the present administration of diverting other intervention funds to service debts.
He alleged that the debt profile of the state was N181billion and that it would take the state 35 years to pay back.
The statement said, “In less than a decade, Osun State, as one of the states with the lowest Internal Generated Revenue (IGR), has found herself in a huge debt of N181billion, a debt to be paid within the next 35 years (Source: Debt Management Office).
“Osun State received N6.4billon for the Q1 of year 2020 from FAAC, there is still possibility for reduction in the Q2 due to Covid 19 pandemic. Then, someone will wonder how the state will be able to pay this huge debt and still provide good governance for her indigenes.”
It added, “Better still, a reasonable person would ask, how did the state find herself in this big mess? But the answer they were giving us is unjustifiable. No one has been able to defend the purpose of trading the future of the state with such debt, no one has been able to point out what government has done that is worth securing that huge debt. How they disposed all the money borrowed is still the question that needs answers from the APC-led Government in the state.
“Undoubtedly, if one could look critically, one would observe that there are lots of atrocities being committed by the government of the APC in Osun State and one could vividly assert that nothing good will come out of this administration.”
“In conclusion, I call on the National Assembly and the State House of Assembly to investigate how the money was spent, prevent the government from further borrowing, monitor the spending of the state Allocation, IGR and other intervention funds,” the statement concluded.
But the administration of Governor Oyetola has said it has never borrowed since it came into office in 2018.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Ismail Omipidan, said that Oyetola’s administration had witnessed tremendous developments in all sectors despite the fact that it did not borrow.
He said Oyetola had managed the finances of the state prudently and had scores of achievements to boast of.
