By John Dike, Osogbo
Osun State Government has debunked allegations of financial impropriety concerning overseas trips by state officials, describing recent media reports as misleading and politically motivated.
Spokesperson to Governor Ademola Adeleke, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, clarified that the reported expenditure covers a wide range of official activities involving over 100 ministries, departments, and agencies — not the Governor’s personal trips.
He explained that the governor personally covers most of his travel expenses, including his current trip to the United States, for which he used a family-owned private jet.
According to Rasheed, “The bulk of the expenditure being reported covers necessary local and international training programs, operational overheads, and travel logistics for hundreds of government officials across the state.”
He noted that many of the training and official trips were carried out in the first half of the year to avoid conflicts with political engagements expected to intensify later in 2025.
He accused opposition elements of twisting the figures in an attempt to undermine a transparent administration.
“The irony is that the figures being misused were published by the government itself, in the spirit of accountability. There is no secrecy, no fraud, and certainly no ‘smoking gun,’” Rasheed added.
He further clarified that the expenditures in question include transportation, accommodation, feeding, and participation fees for commissioners, permanent secretaries, directors, and heads of parastatals, all of whom are involved in ongoing public service reforms.
“It is deceptive to tie the entire expenditure to the Governor alone. Osun has a functioning government structure, and capacity building is a necessary part of delivering effective governance,” he emphasized.
Rasheed highlighted key international engagements to justify the costs, including Governor Adeleke’s attendance at the Commonwealth Business Investment Conference, where he signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ESG Management Services UK Ltd. to attract investments into key sectors such as agriculture, solid minerals, manufacturing, and the creative industry.
Other strategic trips were undertaken by officials from the Ministries of Commerce and Industry, Agriculture and Food Security, Science, Innovation and Digital Economy, Water Resources, Climate Change and Renewable Energy, as well as from various agencies and tertiary institutions.
“These are not luxury trips. They are strategic engagements aligned with Governor Adeleke’s development-focused agenda. Our senior officials also participated in several international training programs to improve service delivery,” Rasheed added.
He also pointed out that the sharp depreciation of the naira has significantly inflated the naira value of foreign travel expenses, despite reductions in both the number of delegates and travel frequency when compared to previous administrations.
His words, “Today, getting $1,000 costs about ₦1.6 million, compared to N400,000 just a few years ago. The exchange rate makes the figures look large, but that doesn’t mean there’s wastage”.
