2 weeks Ago By Lateef Ibrahim
Osun state government has explained that the N38 billion reportedly spent on governor’s office comprises several agencies and units including the governor’s personal office as a small portion. The government also explained that the government vehicles carted away by the previous administration necessitated the purchase of vehicles with N8 billion for statewide operations. Reacting to the allegations by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) that governor Ademola Adeleke expended N38 billion on governor’s office; N8.
09 billion on vehicle purchase, and over N500 million on entertainment, the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, in a statement, Saturday, explained that the N8 billion figure represents the cumulative procurement of vehicles by the Bureau of General Services for all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to replace those carted away by the previous administration whose worth was N4,384,838,696.39 as at then and which ordinarily would have costed N18,488,312,413.88 to replace given the current value of the naira.
According to Alimi, Osun government in the last one year has hosted several high profile national events bordering on beneficial policy meetings, hosting of ministers, governors and even top state officials from the Presidency that necessitated the purported amount spent on entertainment. “The state benefited immensely as several developmental projects are attracted into the state while Osun state is gradually assuming the position of event hub of the South West, boosting the agenda of the administration on the cultural, creative and tourism industry,” Alimi said. On the allegation that governor’s office spent over N38 billion, Alimi said “office of the governor comprises several agencies and units including the governor’s personal office as an infinitesimal portion.
It is disingenuous to put legitimate expenditure of statutory agencies and units on the head of the governor. “On the issue of security votes, we insist that the state governor is not drawing any security vote but the state government spent money on security services and operations and emergencies in the state which are processed within the compass of due process and financial regulations. “We urge the public to ignore agents of fake news and to further fact check the preceding submissions from the state government to reaffirm that the current administration has shown exceptional prudence in resource management, outperforming its predecessor despite today’s challenging global economic landscape,” Alimi added.
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