Former Head of Service (HOS) in Osun state, Mr. Olusegun Akinwusi has
\nrevealed that the state finances was not as bad as being painted by the
\nstate governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola.<\/p>\n
Akinwusi who retired as HOS in 2012 after serving in Aregbesola\u2019s
\ngovernment for almost two years in a statement released in Osogbo at the
\nweekend and titled, \u201cMany lies of a dishonest government\u201d made available
\ndetails of funds allocation from the federation account to the state
\nbetween November 2010 and December 2014.<\/p>\n
The ex-HOS disclosure was coming at a time when the state government was
\nbattling over payment of salaries of the state workers and pension of the
\nretirees.<\/p>\n
According to him, \u201cLeaders by all standards are supposed to be good role
\nmodels, mentors and indeed heroes for the younger ones.\u00a0 That is why we
\nencourage our children to read books and autobiographies of great leaders
\nto guide their mental, social and intellectual developments.\u00a0 \u201cBut when
\nagainst this norm our leaders are epitomes of deceit, lies and unstable
\ncharacter, I fear what these young ones will learn and copy of their
\nlives.<\/p>\n
Akinwusi explained that the figures released by Aregbesola to members of
\nthe state House of Assembly on the position of the economy of our state
\nwere not only bogus \u201cbut they were criminally deceitful.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis government came on board in November, 2010; I will therefore give
\ndetails of the income and expenditure as available on-line, especially
\nfrom the Federation Account compared with what was presented to our state
\nrepresentatives.<\/p>\n
He said the total funds from the federation account between November 2010
\nand December was N54.2 billion as against a sum of N29.9bn our governor
\ndeclared to Osun State House of Assembly (OSHA).<\/p>\n
The ex-HOS disclosed that Aregbesola declared a sum of N31.6billion for
\n2012 but the actual amount of fund received was N47.8billion while in 2013
\nthe state got N44.7 as against a sum of N26.4bn was declared by the
\ngovernor to Assembly.<\/p>\n
In 2014, \u201cAlthough there was a missing record of one month, we still had
\non the strength of the eleven (11) months \u2013 N36.7billion, while our
\ngovernor declared only N19.3billion for the whole year.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the conclusion of the governor we received only N108.3bn all excluding
\nour IGR, as against a total sum of N183.4bn excluding one month the period
\nunder review\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe gimmick of salaries of workers is fraught with many manipulations of
\nfigures as usual.\u00a0 The total staff strength of our workforce is below
\ntwenty-one (21,000).\u00a0 This is because over one-third of the workforce
\nvoluntarily retired in December, 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom grapevine, it is being speculated that since civil servants are no
\nlonger allowed to do their statutory duties, that is preparation of
\nsalaries, a number of fictitious names had found their way into the
\npayroll of government, even people that have never been to Osun State.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe figure of N3.6billion as salaries is spurious and over inflated, I
\nchallenge anyone that the best the salary bill could be cannot be more
\nthan N2.2billion.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore importantly, besides the regular monthly allocation from the
\nfederation account, the followings also accrued to government coffers,
\nExcess Crude Oil N67.1 billion, Internally Generated Revenue(IGR) N43.6
\nbillion, SURE-P N14.4 billion and SUBEB N13.9 billion.<\/p>\n
Akinwusi explained that there were other interventionist programmes
\nincluding UNICEF, Multinational donations and MDG releases and others.<\/p>\n
On the issue of loan, the former HOS said, \u201cThere has been a criminal
\ndeceit and lack of transparency in this matter.\u00a0 For example the public
\nwas made to believe that Islamic sukuk never attracted any interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday we are to pay a sum of N25.5billion to service a loan of
\nN11.5billion.\u00a0 So also are some other loans procured by this government
\nwith a moratorium of 5-6years meaning that it would be due for repayment
\nafter 2020 and beyond.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issue of our debilitating debt profile honestly contradicts the
\nquantum of resources that had flown into the government coffers, when
\nviewed against the background of the various allocations to the state and
\nlocal governments.\u00a0 Today, the entire allocations for the two tiers of
\ngovernments are solely controlled by the governor.<\/p>\n
Local government funds do not get to them, most are disbursed by the
\ngovernor, while the so called Executives Secretaries merely endorse
\nresolutions prepared for them to regularize the illegalities.\u00a0 No records,
\nboth at the state and local government levels about the disbursement of
\nour releases for SURE-P and ECA funds.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us ask the where about of N17.5billion borrowed for the dualisation
\nof Osogbo to Ila-Odo, as corroborated by the Bank for infrastructure to
\ndate.\u00a0 These items like many others were replicated in the N60billion
\nbond, yet all these projects have been abandoned; it on record that
\nN9.7billion would be expended on the phony urban renewal project, all to
\ndate moribund.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ido-Osun Airport project is another nagging matter, for which
\nbillions have been expended so far, and deceitful statements made about
\nits completion in the media.\u00a0 The state government has no budget, this is
\nbecause there is no adherence to the rules and norms of budget cycle.<\/p>\n
\u201cContrary to the norm, there is nothing like Treasury Board for the
\npreparation of this all important policy document, instead a kangaroo \u2013
\nmeeting called bilateral talk is in vogue since the inception of the
\nadministration.\u00a0 That is why we spend over 60% in excess of our actual
\nrevenue.\u00a0 For example in 2011 a sum of N102bn was budgeted, increased to
\nN146bn in 2012, to N235bn for 2013 and 2014 and N201bn for 2015.\u00a0 These
\nfigures were without recourse to budget performances in the previous
\nyears.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe monthly FAC composed of eight (8) principal officers of government
\nhas been cancelled; therefore only the governor and his commissioner for
\nFinance know the income and expenditure of government and thus our total
\ndebt profile.\u00a0 Not even the Accountant General or Permanent Secretary
\nFinance have an inkling of this crucial function of government\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Head of Service (HOS) in Osun state, Mr. Olusegun Akinwusi has revealed that the state finances was not as bad as being painted by the state governor, Mr. Rauf…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n