Osun Govt Spend Bailout Loan Judiciously
Osun State House of Assembly yesterday disclosed that the state government spent the bailout loan disbursed to it by the federal government judiciously.
The clearance by the Assembly followed the presentation of the report of investigation on the N25,871,920,000 given to the state and N9,117,070,000 to the local government, which was adopted at the plenary on Tuesday.
The Speaker, Honourable Najeem Salaam said, the Assembly has tracked the bailout fund and discovered that it has been judiciously utilised by the manager of the fund, which is meant for the payment of salaries and allowances.
He re-emphasized that by the findings of the parliament, the balance of the N25.8billion given to the state was N2,040,415.07 in First bank and N1,312,619.19 in Wema Bank, amounting to N3,353,034.26. While the balance of N9.117 billion given to the local government was N173,226,789.45 in Zenith Bank, giving the total balance of N176,579,823.71.
“Our findings have shown that the bailout loan has been judiciously spent and that is to tell you that we are tracking the disbursement of the fund.
“However, the Committee on Public Account will go further to investigate the 1% interest on credit balance on monthly basis.
“We will also look into the activities of Chams, the consultant that is handling the payment of salaries in the state to monitor the activities of the company too”, the speaker said.
Noting that the Assembly was committed to the development of the state, he said, the parliament has been committed to stabilising the policy of government.
Presenting the report earlier, the Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Hon. Kamil Oyedele said, it was observed in the course of investigation that the bailout fund released for the state was less than the amount needed and requested for to clear the salary arrears.
He said that all transactions made on the bailout fund were solely for the payment of salaries, allowances, pensions and other salary-related expenses.
