A civil group, the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEOS) has declared that the state Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has mortgaged the future of the state by borrowing beyond its capacity.

It also stated that the projects being acclaimed to have been executed did not justify the debts incurred by the state.

The group also alleged that half of the accumulated debt were loans taken from foreign and local financial intuitions from 2012 to 2014.

While reacting to the debt profile of the state, which amounts to about N179 billion as released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), CSCEOS’s Chairman, Comrade Adeniyi Alimi Sulaiman, in a statement issued on Thursday, insisted that the debt were not sustainable contrary to the claim of the state government.

Faulting the state government's claim that Aregbesola was prudent in managing the funds, the group disclosed that Aregbesola has destroyed the state beyond redemption.

CSCEOS also rejected the claim of the state government that part of the debt were from old Oyo State and other previous administrations in the state, explaining that as at the time Aregbesola took over the reign of power, the total debt of the state was not up to N15 billion.

The group explained that the Olagunsoye Oyinlola administration borrowed N18.3 billion and N2.4 billion that were repaid, and that over N7 billion of the loans was not spent.

It added that the inherited debts from old Oyo State did not have any effect on the financial status of the state until Aregbesola came on board.

It further stressed that the state has been engulfed in financial mess since 2014 when it could not perform its obligation of payment of salaries and pensions with gratuities before much publicised economic recession in 2015.

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