By Tunde Olamilekan
Olawale Rasheed, the spokesperson to Governor Ademola Adeleke, has accused the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State of spreading misinformation about the state budgetary performance report.
Rasheed stated that the public posting of the state’s budgetary performance by the state government showed that the Adeleke-led administration is transparent and accountable, with nothing to hide about state finance.
In a statement on Saturday, Rasheed said no amount of misinformation from the APC will erase the fact that Governor Adeleke manages ‘security votes’ only within the purview of state finance law and public finance regulations.
He said the opposition party demonstrated laziness and a lack of initiative by finding fault in the publicly quoted budgetary performance reports, adding that “a government that announced its revenue and expenditure is showing honesty, openness, and responsibility to the citizenry.
Olawale said, “For example, when Governor Adeleke said his expenditure on state security follows due process, the details were published in the budgetary performance as documented expenditures with categorization. That implies that all security-related expenses follow due process within the confines of the state finance laws.
“When Governor Adeleke said Osun does not operate security votes in the sense that Nigerians understand it, the simple meaning is that there is no slush fund to be expended outside the purview of due process and public finance regulations. Every security-related expenditure is officially accounted for.
“The size of such expenditures on annual basis is determined by inflationary rates, operational requirements of security agencies, stability or otherwise of the exchange rate, frequency or otherwise of communal confrontations, expansion or contraction of state security agency like Amotekun, new security initiatives among others. A government is, however, obliged to publish the spending patterns to demonstrate accountability and transparency.
“If a citizen or any opposition activist is, however, interested in the detailed breakdown of those published expenditures, the procedure is clear as openly stated in the federally enacted Freedom of Information Act. The A to Z of those expenditures can also be accessed within the FOI Act.
The statement added, “It is, however, laziness, mischief, or ignorance to use budgetary reports freely posted to build a false narrative and a misinformation campaign. A government that has something to hide will not post its expenditure profile. Such government will not sign up to the World Bank moderated open budget initiative.
“In Nigeria today, Governor Adeleke holds the enviable record of a governor who manages ‘security votes’ only within the purview of state finance law and public finance regulations. No amount of misinformation from Osun APC can erase that fact”.