Osun Debt Profile, insidious data curation and ignorant narrative of an ex-commissioner

My insistence that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola left =N=270 billion debt for Osun state was somewhat corroborated recently by Dr Tunde Adejumo, Director General of Osun Debt Management Office. According to Adejumo in a response to a published opinion by a former finance commissioner in the state, the State’s total debt portfolio inherited by the current administration was well over =N=200billion. Since Adejumo’s rejoinder, I am aware the said ex-commissioner has published another meaningless article to rationalise the jaundiced thoughts expressed in his earlier articles. The infatuated pamphleteer was so hopelessly frustrated that he devoted half of his asinine write-up to deride Dr Adejumo who he claimed he employed as the DG of Osun DMO when Adejumo ” was out of job having being (sic) sacked by the university where he was teaching after he left Diamond Bank.” Even though the ex-commissioner claimed Adejumo had no experience in project finance or public finance, he employed him afterall. Which commissioner would recommend an incompetent face to manage a debt management office in a government establishment? Such a commissioner should be an elevated scoundrel. And it is from this prism the ex-commissioner should be evaluated. I will return to the issue of competence later.

As at 27 November, 2018, when the Oyetola administration came to life, the economy of Osun State was lying prostrate on the account of staggering debts bequeathed to it. At the time, a civic advocacy organisation, BudgIT, grouped the State alongside few states that exceeded their debts to net revenues by more than 400 per cent. In clear violation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (2007) which states that loans shall not exceed 50 per cent of the revenue , Osun state came second with 650.94 per cent Debt-to-Total Net Revenue. Pensioners and workers in the employment of the state government were owed emoluments close to 30 months. Everywhere was tensed because the State had become a corporate headquarters of mindless debts which handicapped the government from discharging its statutory obligations. But strangely, those whose actions led to the near collapse of the government are today apportioning blames and teaching the current government which economy policy it should adopt. Who are those actors that led the State to this dire straits?

Those familiar with the workings of the Rauf Aregbesola government would affirm that memos/communications bordering on finance of Osun were pedantically routed between the Governor and his finance commissioners. So it is not correct that the Chief of Staff to the Governor at the time, now Governor Oyetola, was the financial emperor and the decider of economic policies of the administration as those whose reputations have been besmirched would want the people to believe. If any one should be singled out for opproprium regarding the somewhat awful financial decisions taken by the rested government, most especially the disturbing debt profile, it should be the then Governor, who the electorate gave the mandate, and his finance commissioner/”personal support adviser for 5 years and four months.” We should not call a dog a bad name to hang it. The referenced commissioner supervised the contentious borrowing spree and five budget processes in the life of the last administration.

On assumption of office, Governor Oyetola, it was learnt, set up his economic team with clear objective to redirect and refocus the policy of the government towards financial prosperity. To the credit of the administration, the advocacy group, BudgiT, in its State of States report for year 2020, had soothing remarks for it because of its effort in ensuring wastages are blocked in governace and for its technology-driven IGR promotion.

Unfortunately, the more the administration work hard to achieve the set-goal, the more the deductions from the monthly federal allocations weigh it down. Funds meant to execute programmes of this administration are monthly butchered at source to offset loans this government never obtained.

Unlike in the first term of the immediate past government when it received in allocation as much as N55billion in a year, this administration received in 2019, for instance, N51.9billion on paper but actually came home with =N=24.2billion for the balance of =N=27.7billion was knocked off to service loan sourced by the previous government. In fact, in the first two years of the current government, the sum of =N=2.4billion (averagely) was monthly slashed from the State’s federal allocation to offset loans.

Nothwithstanding the financial challenges, the administration of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola steadies on to meet its statutory obligation. The half-salary pejorative nomenclature, earlier coined for the State because of the modulated salary model experimented by the defunct government, has since fizzled out because salaries and pensions are now paid as and when due. In the last 39 months, the Oyetola-led government has released about =N=170billion to resolve pension and salary commitments. Is there any state in the country that has done as much as what this government has done in this regard within this period? Perhaps Lagos. And one or two other states. And interesting, the State, according to the current finance commissioner, Bola Oyebamiji, has not approached any financial entity for any loan since 2018 because the Governor “has sustained his focus on priority spending whereby critical expenditures of government are funded based on available resources.” Oyebamiji reiterated this line when he responded to the irresponsible, spurious, laughable and unfortunate claim of the retired commissioner regarding fresh loan.

This government, at all time, leverages every opportunity channelled at freeing up resources and expanding its capacity to meet its financial obligations. That is why when last month the distributable federal allocation plummeted to a four-year low and many states scampered for safety because there was paucity of fund to pay workers, Osun raised its head high to fulfil salary and pension obligation — to every patriot’s delight.

Yes, the State’s fiscal receipt for January 2022 ( which was distributed in February 2022) was =N=1.45billion, whereas the debt servicing deduction for the month stood at =N=1.8billion. And, yes, a negative of about =N=350million would be carried forward to next distribution. The government, nonetheless, moves on in the hope that the operational template designed by the economic team led by Mr Governor would be sufficient enough to stabilise the State’s economy. This is how Osun has fared under the leadership of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola.

Now back to the issue of competence raised by the boastful ex-commissioner. Available data does not suggest he did not manage irresponsibly the finance of the state when he held sway.

On November 1, 2013, the media was awash with the news of the Osun state assembly berating the Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Economy Planning for implementing a poor budget. According to Hon. Kamil Oyedele, the House Committee Chairman on Finance and Appropriation, the commissioner in charge of budget and finance was advised “to move away from bogus budget” that would have no impact on the well-being of the citizens. Similar poor reviews were made of the subsequent budgets emanated from the rested commissioner.

It was so awful under his commissioner-ship that his re-appointment was not a desirable choice for his principal in 2017. Or how does one reconcile this: he was a Commissioner from 2011-2014 and Personal Support Adviser to the Governor from Dec. 2014 to Dec. 2016. Yet the Governor, the person he has been trying to burnish his image now, didn’t find him worthy of re-nomination in April 2017? Of course, it is either the Governor found his contribution to his government negative and uninspiring or the Governor has phobia for good taste.

In truth: let the ex-commissioner know now that while his pedestrian and limited knowledge of financial matters could be tolerated for the reason that he strayed from engineering, where he was prococious, to finance, what could no longer be tolerated are his relished mischief, patent arrogance and manifestly batty lack of discretion while expressing his opinion on public finance. He has been given a long rope for too long; so this is the time to match his lousiness and place him in pigsty, where he deservedly belongs because he has polluted the political water in the state with his foul smell and activities capable of stoking the citizens against the government.