‘Osun earned N317bn in four years’

Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola 

The immediate past Head of Service in Osun State, Mr. Segun Akinwusi, has said the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola earned a total of N317bn from the federal allocation, internally generated revenue and other accruals from the Federal Government since he became the governor in 2010.

The figure, as given by Akinwusi at the summit organised by the Osun Stakeholders at Ile Ife on Thursday, was contrary to the N204bn, which Aregbesola gave as the total accruable to the state at the inauguration of the state House of Assembly on June 2.

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The figure given by the former HOS also formed part of the communiqué issued by the organisers of the summit at the end of the programme.

One of the conveners of the summit, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, read the communique.

The summit had been scheduled to hold at a hotel in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, but one of the conveners, Mr. Niyi Owolade, accused the police of being used by the state government to deny them the opportunity of using the venue.

Efforts to speak to the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mrs. Folasade Odoro, on Owolade’s accusation, proved abortive as the signal was bad when our correspondent called her telephone.

The PPRO, however, did not respond to the text message sent to her mobile phone on the matter.

But, the APC in the state has said that the organisers of the summit fled the venue initially scheduled for the meeting on sighting policemen because their intentions were not good.

The spokesperson for the APC in the state, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, said this in a reaction to the claim of the conveners of the summit.

He said, “Their claim that the police stopped them from holding it in Osogbo is ridiculous. They came to Leisure Spring Hotel, saw police security and they fled, to one hideout in Ile Ife.

“If their intentions were good, why did they run away from the police? If their intentions were good, why did the presence of the police scare them? Did the police officially prohibit the summit? Those guys are cowards; they should not be taken seriously.”

“We will look at what they had on offer as solution to the financial and education ‘problems’ in the state before we respond fully.”

Akinwusi, in his speech put the state’s debt profile at over N400bn and not N40bn, saying the future of generations in the state was bleak because of the burden of the debt.

He added that Aregbesola lied to the people of the state by telling them that the N11.5bn Islamic loan (Sukuk) raised attracted no interest. According to him, the state will pay 25.5bn to service the loan of N11.5bn.

The Osun Stakeholders also asked the National Assembly to set in motion machinery to restructure the country, saying states did not need the handout given to them in the name of bailout but that they should be allowed to prospect for resources within their territories.

They frowned at the use of consultants by the Osun State Government to carry out the duties, which the state civil servants ought to be doing. They said this had constituted a huge waste of state’s resources and should be stopped to save the state of some fund.

Owolade, who is a former governorship candidate of the Accord Party, quoted Aregbesola as saying that President Muhammadu Buhari said the problem confronting Osun State was beyond his power when the governor paid a visit to the President.

The governor had told members of the Osun State House of Assembly on June 2 during the inauguration of the new lawmakers that the state earned N204bn from November 2010 to the end of 2014.

He explained that the sharp drop in the amount of fund accruing to the state made it difficult for him to continue to pay workers regularly.

Aregbesola had said, “In summary, between November 2010 and December 2014, we got a total statutory allocation of N108.3 bn and our expenditure on emoluments was N120.4 bn. It left us with a total deficit of N12bn.

“Aside from expenditure on salaries, if other emoluments are to be included, the total recurrent expenditure will be N206bn and statutory allocation N108.3bn. With other accruals from Abuja, it will add up to N176.5bn, leaving the state with a deficit of almost N30 bn.

“Even when we add our internally generated revenue, we were still only able to muster N204 bn and still short by N2bn. It simply means that all our earning from all sources between 2010 and 2014 could not carry our recurrent expenditure.”