Issues & Policy: PDP And Osun’s Finances

Statement Issued By The Office Of The Governor In Response To The False Allegations Make By The Osun PDP On Osun’s Finances

On Thursday, May 10, 2018, the state chairman of the opposition PDP in Osun in company of the party’s governorship aspirants which included a professor and a Senator of the Federal Republic, addressed a press conference where he dished out, as usual, a concoction of lies and half truths. This is nothing unusual; it is the party’s stock in trade. These lies were meant to deceive the public, save face in an embarrassing situation or just live up to the reputation of a decimated opposition gasping for breath and giving the puerile and false impression of standing up to a popular government, in order to maintain a stranglehold on its disoriented members that are dumping the party in droves.

The background to this however was the failed Southwest rally it held on Saturday May 5 that was sparsely attended and which drew sustained criticisms for the wantonness and vandalism of the Freedom Square venue the state government magnanimously allowed them to use. This was even as the State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, led the APC to a goodwill town hall visit to the nine federal constituencies in the state which witnessed massive turnout and uproarious reception.

The fake press conference was therefore a desperate attempt to change the narrative on the soaring popularity of Governor Aregbesola and the APC in contrast to the dwindling fortunes of the PDP in the state and all over the country.

We therefore have the following to say on the cacophonic baloney concocted by the PDP on the account of the state.

• The primary source of the information relied upon was the state audited account for 2015 and 2016 that had been publicly presented with fanfare on April 4 this year. It is therefore curious how the state’s account transparently presented to the public could be a source from which the opposition will draw allegations of financial impropriety. For the avoidance of doubt, Osun is the only state among the six participating states in the State and Local Governance Reform (SLOGOR) Project that publicly presented its account for three years running. Others are Anambra, Cross River, Jigawa, Kano and Yobe.
• The PDP got its facts wrong by claiming that the Office of the Governor spent N6.3 billion in 2016. It was actually N9.7 billion. N4.8 billion was also expended in 2015, as against N1.2 billion falsely claimed by PDP. But it is a display of monumental fiscal ignorance to ascribe the Office of the Governor to the person of Governor Rauf Aregbesola. There are 28 agencies under the Office of the Governor. These are: Osun Park and Gardens; Wife of the Governor; Office of Regional Integration; Bureau of Government House and Protocols; Christian Welfare Board; Muslim Welfare Board; Public Procurement Agency; Osun State Sports Council; Office of the Deputy Governor; Public Service Office; Special Project Office; Sustainable Development Goals; O’Jobs; Office of Human Resources; Bureau of Public Service Pension; Office of Economic Development and Partnership; Policy and Economic Team; Office of Forestry, Natural and Mineral Resources; Office of Policy Coordination; Bureau of General Services; Osun State Emergency Management Agency; Bureau of Lands; O’Honey; United Nations Development Programme; Osun State Agency for the Control of AIDS; Sustainable Development Goals; and Bureau of Communications and Strategy. These are the agencies which received the budgetary allocation under reference, not the person of the governor.
• A breakdown of the 2016 sum reveals that N648 million was spent on personnel, N2.5 billion on overhead while N4.99 billion was spent on pension, making a total N8.1billion. The balance of N1.56b was expended on capital acquisition and other critical expenditures.
• It is ridiculous and the height of mischief to claim that the state government spent N1.8 million on health in 2016. Capital project and project funded on health was to the tune of a total sum of N498 million in 2016. Hospital Management Board in 2016 also got N1.5 billion. Capital projects in health were also carried out under Sustainable Development Goals and the Ministry of Health.
• PDP also claimed that the Office of the Governor spent N276 million on ‘infrastructure maintenance’. This is false. The sum was expended on ‘infrastructure acquisition’. There is a world of difference between ‘acquisition’ and ‘maintenance’.
• The state government has had to use huge sums to repay debts. These debts date back to the old Oyo State. Aregbesola’s administration inherited a total of N19.9 billion debt incurred by the previous PDP administration. These debts were owed UBA, Zenith Bank and Sterling Bank. As it is evident to all, the bonds were used efficiently for infrastructure development. The state government also took more than N25 billion loan to pay workers salaries and it was in order to avoid cumulating debts to pay workers salaries that the government adopted the modulated salary structure arrangement.

It is perplexing therefore for the PDP to make a mountain out of the molehill and in the process expose itself to ridicule and public opprobrium with the expression of monumental ignorance on simple fiscal matters.

That the PDP leadership, with its governorship aspirants, do not know the difference between the Office of the Governor and the person of the governor is more than shameful – it is egregious. It is unthinkable that these people have been in one leadership position or another and are angling to rule the state. This faux pas has morally disqualified them from any leadership position. They have demonstrated their unsuitability to govern the state.

The media and the public are enjoined to be wary of the inanities of the PDP leadership who are certified confusionists that have perfected the art of lying and public deception.