The Osun State government has said the rise in the monthly loan repayment on the state’s foreign loan was not a result of any borrowing by the incumbent administration in the state.

In a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr Kolapo Alimi, obtained in Osogbo on Tuesday, the state said the rise in the repayment on foreign loans was a result of the prevailing exchange rate of Naira to the United States Dollar.

Alimi’s statement was in response to a report from the National Bureau of Statistics, which listed Osun as number 10 among states with high debt service payments.

“Osun State, located in Nigeria’s southwest, is culturally known for the Osun-Osogbo Festival. In 2024, Osun recorded N3.4bn in external debt service costs, up from N1.57bn in 2023. This represents an increase of N1.83bn or about 116 per cent,” the NBS report said.

In response, Alimi’s statement read, “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.

“It is also 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.

“As the repayment is done in line with the prevailing rate, there is an increase in the naira value of monthly loan repayment on the foreign loans portfolio of all the states of the federation.

“The inevitable increase, therefore, is not only peculiar to Osun, rather, it applies to all the states and the Federal Government. The public is assured that the state financial management is responsible and sustainable without any new indebtedness.”

PUNCH