The Osun Debt Management Office (DMO) has cautioned Wale Bolorunduro, the immediate past Commissioner for Finance in Osun, to desist from misleading the public with wrong narratives as regards the state’s debt portfolio.
The Osun DMO which requested that Bolorunduro be reminded that he served as Commissioner for Finance for only three years in an administration which completed the two terms of eight years stressed that he lacked full knowledge of what really transpired under the administration.
The Osun DMO which made this known in a statement in response to allegations made by Bolorunduro stressed that there was no need for the state’s total debt stock to become a subject of argument.
Reacting through Tunde Adejumo, its Director-General, the Osun DMO held that since there is a federal repository of debt stocks in the country, the record of borrowing by the government at all levels were kept with the Debt Management Office of the federation.
It noted that “On the issue of the state’s monthly loan repayments, and monthly loan deductions from the statutory receipts, these are verifiable details from both the offices of Accountant-General of the Federation and Federal Ministry of Finance. Therefore, the unending narratives on Osun State’s debt stock and loan repayments from the former Commissioner of Finance, in our view are mischievous and needless.”
Adejumo who maintained that the Osun DMO had nothing to hide regarding the state’s debt profile added that the present administration inherited a debt portfolio of over N200 billion.
While recalling that the Osun DMO had earlier raised concern on the contentious statistics about the financial affairs of the state by the former finance commissioner, he noted that the state’s IGR was at best, only about 25% of the state’s loan repayment.
In his words, “As a matter of fact, the State’s IGR was at best, only about 25% of the State’s loan repayment throughout his 3 year tenor as Finance commissioner in the state.”
The former Finance Commissioner, Wole Bolorunduro had always alleged that the current administration of Adegboyega Oyetola has not been truthful with the state’s debt profile and therefore was feeding the public with wrong information to paint his predecessor, Rauf Aregbesola in a bad light.