Osun State Government has denied a report that it obtained a N10 billion loan facility in 2023, asserting that it is not planning to take any such loan now or shortly.
The government described the report as a demonstration and ignorance of mischief.
A statement of the Commissioner for Information, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi made available to journalists in Osogbo said all current indebtedness of the state was contracted by previous governments of the All Progressive Congress.
According to the Commissioner, since its inception in November 2022, the current government has been servicing inherited debt and ensuring project implementation where the loan is tied to any project like the Ilesa Water Project.
Alimi posited that as a responsible government with a focus on legacy attainments, Governor Adeleke adopted a no-loan policy which he has maintained since assuming office.
“We recognize the deficiency of the person behind the latest hoax to misrepresent the Adeleke administration, but the mistake he and his backer made is failing to intelligently scrutinize the erroneous claim before going public.
“What the opposition mischievously calculated as loans are World Bank and other multilateral institutions projects like NCares, Ramp, and Ilesa Water Project. Is the opposition asking Osun state to opt out of many beneficial multilateral projects that are inherited from previous governments?
“We affirm that the State government will continue to support the people of the State in alleviating poverty through the Nigeria Covid-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NCARES) with reimbursement from the World Bank through the Federal Government. This forms part of what the mischievous attackers are parading as loans taken by the State government.
“We invite the public, particularly the Osun people to recall that the Rauf Aregbesola administration secured a facility from the Islamic Development Bank for the execution of the Ilesa Water Work project at the twilight of that government.
The facility which totalled $65 million, was structured in such a way that it is provided upon need for any aspect of the project.
According to him between 2018 and 2022, the Gboyega Oyetola administration received several billions of Naira from that fund.
“What the Osun APC minion misread for a fresh loan under Governor Adeleke, was the continuation of the flow of the fund for the Ilesa Water project and other multilateral projects like the NCARES, Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAMP), State Action Business Enabling Reforms(SABER) among others.
“The public will recall that the current administration on inheriting the Ilesa Water project for which the loan was taken undertook a major cleaning up , stopping major corruption and setting the project on a sustainable path of completion and value for money.
“As much as we recognize the failed bid of the opposition in Osun amidst its frantic search for fault finding no matter how ridiculous, we however expected a bit of informed postulation as against the illiterate understanding of state finance the Osun APC has so far demonstrated.
“We assure the public of this administration’s financial discipline. As such, this government will not repeat the horror of the reckless borrowing that crippled the state and inflicted untold pain on the people in the past.
“The current government has not taken any fresh loan and has no plan to do so, but the administration is making use of the available resources, assets, and liability, to the benefit of the state and its people.”
The commissioner urged the public to disregard the false alarm of “the remnant of the deeply factionalized Osun APC.”
He stated that the PDP government is not financially illiterate and it is busy with clearing the financial mess of the previous APC government.
