Former Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Economic Planning in Osun State, Dr. Wale Bolorunduro, at the weekend asked the Osun Mastermind Group to direct all information relating to the debt profile of the state between 2007 to 2015 to Governor Gboyega Oyetola.
The former Commissioner said Oyetola was the chairman of the Board of the Debt Management Office in those years.
This was during the administration of former Governor Rauf Aregbesola.
Bolorunduro said Oyetola can therefore not shy away from his responsibility to tell the people what loans were taken and what they were deployed to.
In a statement by Bolorunduro, the former Commissioner said not only was Oyetola the supervisor of all debts issues, he was the official of the government who sat over all cases of approvals for allocation of funds for projects.
The Osun Mastermind Group had called out Oyetola to demand from Aregbesola the debt profile of the state.
The former Commissioner said no one would daft enough not to know easily that The Osun Masterminds are working for the Governor.
Bolorunduro said: “They have posed questions for Governor Oyetola and I have no choice than to let it be ab-initio, because of the following reasons:
“He was the Chairman of the board of Osun Debt Management Office during the tenure of Ogbeni Aregbesola.
“He was the coordinating Officer, the first and the last gatekeeper and as the most powerful Chief of Staff, who was approving all request memos to Aregbesola for final approval. When those projects were approved, the memos were endorsed to him for final treatment. So, he is the repertoire of those records and answers that The Osun Mastermind wants.”
The former Commissioner said as the officer that he handed over the finance portfolio to in 2014, Oyetola was also the one confirming final funds releases by banks until commissioners were appointed in May 2017.
Bolorunduro added: “So, as the sole commissioner for almost three years, he could also answer those long questions of the Osun Mastermind. It is now time for our dear Governor Oyetola to put his money, where his mouth is, as requested by his citizens in Osun mastermind group. I trust my Excellency, he would not answer them.”
Bolorunduro said he was appointed on August 12, 2011 when Aregbesola’s cabinet was put in place.
He argued that the Chief of Staff, Oyetola, had assumed office since January 7, 2011, way before he (Bolorunduro) became the state Commissioner for Finance on August 12, 2011.
The Commissioner said all over the world, loans are borrowed to fix infrastructure and other developmental purposes.
He added: “Osun people can see the roads, schools and other infrastructures that were executed with the debt finance. Osogbo people are happy with Aregbesola, any day and any time because he has transformed Osogbo to a modern city. There are four completed bridges, flyover, underpasses on Oba Adesoji Aderemi Circular Road, the urban renewals of Osogbo. For some of the federal roads, our amiable, lucky Governor Oyetola has been collecting refunds from federal government, be it 11b or 13b or 17.5b naira.”
The former Commissioner advised the Osun Mastermind Group, which he accused of being sponsored to tarnish Aregbsola’s name, to seek knowledge on debt issues.
He accused the group and its leaders of dabbling into an issue they have no knowledge of.
Bolorunduro said: “How do you reason with individuals, who don’t know how to determine borrowing capacity of a sovereignty or sub-sovereignty. How do you get into debt sustainability issue with such souls?”
He argued that the current average gross revenue of Osun State from the Federation Account is N4.3billion monthly, while that of local governments is about N4 billion.
He noted: “You don’t need any fussy mathematics to know that the gross revenue of the state of Osun must have dropped to less than N2.5 billion monthly in 2016, which is within the period of interest to the Osun Mastermind and the period, the Oyetola-led Government – Labour committee recommended salary apportionment because of the drop in revenue, when oil price dropped below $30 per barrel.
“The state of Osun has published its 2020 audited account and its total revenue was about N100b naira for the year, which includes its IGR of N19billion. The monthly loan deduction attributable to the bequeathed debt portfolio is now N1.5b monthly, which translates to N18bn annually, less than 20percent of the annual revenue of the state. Even at peak period, which was the first seven months of Governor Oyetola Administration, it was less than 30 percent.”
He disclosed further that the government under Aregbesola had refinanced all the Construction Finance Facilities, which he said were used to augment and jumpstart the roads projects funding, way before the end of the second term of Aregbesola.
He said: “That we could refinance to long term facilities shows that the portfolio is not exposed to refinancing risk, which has a nexus to sustainability. I have given the debt portfolio figure of Osun bequeathed on Oyetola by Aregbesola and that the components are long term financing with weighted average interest rate of 11.75 percent per annum. Let The Osun Mastermind or Governor Oyetola contradict that with facts and figures.”
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