NBS Report: Osun Govt. Blames High Debt Service Rate On Weak National Currency
The Osun State government has responded to a report from the National Bureau of Statistics listing Osun as number ten among states with high debt service payments.
In a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, the state Government clarified that the apparent rise in the monthly loan repayment on the State’s foreign loan is not as a result of any new borrowing but a consequence of the nation’s weak currency following the devaluation of Naira.
The NBS report picked by opposition platform had noted as follows:
“Osun State, located in Nigeria’s southwest, is culturally known for the Osun-Osogbo Festival. In 2024, Osun recorded N3.4 billion in external debt service costs, up from N1.57 billion in 2023. This represents an increase of N1.83 billion or about 116%”
The public would kindly recall that repayment on foreign loans is usually done based on the prevailing exchange rate of the local currency (Naira) to the US$ Dollar.
Mr Alimi said it was important to put on record that Osun state was plunged into high local and foreign indebtedness in the 12 years of APC government in the state.
He said as the repayment is done in line with prevailing rate, there is an increase in the naira value of monthly loan repayment on foreign loans portfolio of all the States of the Federation.
The commissioner hinted that the inevitable increase, therefore, is not only peculiar to Osun, rather, it is applicable to all the States and the Federal government.
He said “The public is assured that the state financial management is responsible and sustainable without any new indebtedness.”
The running of osun state government in their twelve years of reign in the state was based on internal and external borrowing which takes OSUN state into oblivion so what the present government is facing now was the problem caused by APC twelve years of maladministration