Osun denies N413 billion debt profile

The Osun State Commissioner for Finance says the state does not have a bad debt profile.

The Commissioner for Finance in Osun, Wale Bolorunduro, on Wednesday denied that the state government had obtained N413 billion loan from banks.

Mr. Bolorunduro denied the allegation while defending his Ministry’s 2014 budget before the State House of Assembly Committee on Finance and Appropriation in Osogbo.

The Commissioner said it was impossible for the state government to obtain such a “huge loan” from any bank as its revenue could not cope with the repayment.

“In the lists of highly indebted states released by the Debt Management Office as at December 2013 as published by some National Dailies, Osun did not feature.

“The total income of Osun in a year is N60 billion, and in four years it is N240 billion. In what way will any bank now give us N413 billion?

“So, the alleged N413 billion loan is not true, because no bank will give more than what state revenue can take.

“You cannot just go to the bank and say you want money, but you can only borrow based on your level of income.”

Mr. Bolorunduro, however, said the government had flouted a N60 billion bond in the capital market with the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC.

He said already it had accessed N40 billion from the bond while the remaining amount would be accessed as the revenue of the state increases.

The commissioner stressed that the process through which the bond was taken was made known to the public. He said the loan was obtained to enable the government complete all ongoing projects in the state.

Mr. Bolorunduro assured that the state government was committed to making Osun self-sustaining, in terms of food security, infrastructure development, youth empowerment and industrialisation.

(NAN)