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*By Sarafa Ibrahim
Not so long ago, I projected into the character of Adebayo Adedeji, and the simple truth about him is that he is someone given to plain untruth, always twisting facts to drive his narrow political objective. In my article, “Osun debt profile and APC’s busted lies”, I pointed out his lack of understanding of accounting and budgeting documents, which in the light of his recent misrepresentation of facts, is worse than I had observed.
Let’s start with the question on the local debt profile that Adedeji raised. By his hypothesis, Governor Ademola Adeleke-led administration took fresh local loans in the 2023 fiscal year, throwing all sorts of numbers to force his faulty argument on the public. To start with, it is an unintelligent lie for Adedeji or anyone to accuse the Adeleke administration of keeping the true debt profile of the state a top secret especially when the information is regularly captured by the Debt Management Office and even the State’s Financial Statement documents.
Now, to the issue of debt or otherwise, it is not surprising that Adedeji, in his usual characteristics, choose to twist the record to mislead the public. For instance, the supposed debt was the NG-CARES facility routed through the federal government by the World Bank to all states in the country for the COVID-19 impact reduction projects. As Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State recently clarified, the fund is a Programme for Results “because States had to use their fund in advance to the programme” and get reimbursed by the World Bank after verification through the Federal Government.
This was what happened with the N2,930,645,475.46 recorded as the NG-CARES receipt for the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in the 2023 fiscal year, which Adedeji mischievously presented as a fresh loan. Interestingly, his principal, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, accessed a similar facility in the 2022 fiscal year to the tune of N705,650,000.00. The same thing with the receipt by the Ministry of Rural Development and Community Affairs and the Ministry of Youths and Sports. It is important to note that this fund preceeded the Adeleke administration, and so, utter balderdash to say Governor Adeleke increased the state’s debt binge.
In fact, the records, including the one relied on by Adedeji for his false narrative, showed clearly that the Adeleke administration had reduced Osun state’s level of indebtedness. For example, salary bailout debt in 2022 stood at N22.058bn, and by 2023, it dropped to N21.646bn while Restructured Commercial Loan was N75.459bn in 2022 but came down to N73.935bn in 2023. Also, the Federal Government Intervention Fund component of Osun’s local debt came down to N18.443bn in 2023 from the N19.543bn it was in 2022.
There is one interesting fact about the Federal Government Intervention Fund that many people may not know. The debt that didn’t exist until 2021 when N2.8bn was accessed jumped up over N17bn to N19.543bn in 2022 under the Oyetola-led administration. This is yet a burst to the long-propagated lies by those who served in the past administration that Oyetola didn’t borrow while he was Governor of Osun state.
From the DMO’s record, which is under Adedeji’s party-controlled central government, Osun’s debt profile, be it local or external debt, has seen a significant reduction under Governor Adeleke. By December 31, 2022, only a few days after Governor Adeleke assumed office, the DMO put the state’s domestic debt was N148bn. A year after, precisely December 31, 2023, the debt value has shed about N4bn, as it stood at N144bn. By March 31, 2024, the DMO recorded a local debt profile of N87bn for Osun state, indicating that the state had cut its debt by N57bn.
This unimaginable feat was captured by one of the leading online newspapers in Nigeria, TheCable, in a June 21, 2024, publication. According to the newspaper, Osun reduced its domestic debt standing by 40 percent by the end of the first quarter of 2024, puncturing the erroneous postulation of elements like Adedeji and his co-travellers whose sole intent is misinformation.
And to the issue of welfare raised by Adedeji, it is disturbing to note the fierce struggle with the truth that is inherent in his hypothesis. Available data showed that the Adeleke administration has been up-and-coming in the welfare of the people, particularly workers and pensioners. For emphasis, the Adeleke administration released the sum of N12,719,245,528.00 as bond to pensioners in 18 months, whereas his two predecessors, including Adedeji’s principal, Oyetola, could only release N11,150,871,889.00 in bond. In terms of gratuities, the Adeleke administration has paid over N4.3bn in barely two years in office.
But that was not all. Governor Adeleke enrolled the entire pensioners in the state on healthcare coverage and took up the significant burden of the cost of managing their health. It is interesting to note that Osun was the first state, if not the only state in the whole of Nigeria to have such a broad healthcare plan for people who gave the better part of their lives in the service of the state. Lest I forget, Governor Adeleke has ensured the payment of half salary owed by the APC administration, putting an end to years of wait for their entitlements. While contributory pensioners who are yet to receive their bond have received no less than 15-month, those who had gotten their bonds have received at least six months out of owed half-salary.
For active workers, the scenario is not any different as their owed entitlements, which the Oyetola administration couldn’t attend to, are receiving the necessary attention from Governor Adeleke. Let’s start with the financial benefits of the promotion given to them by the Oyetola administration in 2019 but could only be implemented by Governor Adeleke. This is also the case with half-salary, which had seemed impossible under the Oyetola administration. However, no fewer than six months have been paid under Adeleke so far. Talk of wage award for workers and pensioners, and you will find that Osun is one of the 15 states in Nigeria that implemented that welfare programme.
It therefore does not make sense for anyone to entertain the wrong notion that the Adeleke administration has not been forthcoming with the welfare of the people. By all measures, Governor Adeleke has been judicious in the use of resources at his disposal as evident in the laudable infrastructural renewal and welfare packages that are visible to all and can be felt by the direct beneficiaries, unlike the audio interventions that defined the past.
I think Adedeji should focus more on telling and by effect, showing the Osun people what his principal used the over N400bn accumulated revenue to do because as the public can tell, the only thing that was pronounced was complaints and nothing more. By now, Adedeji should know that, although, he may try very hard to distort the facts, but as a former American President, John Adams, cautioned “are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
• Sarafa Ibrahim is a Special Assistant to the Osun State Governor. He writes from Iwo, Osun State.
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