The Oyo State Government has officially refuted claims by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration has secured a new ₦300 billion loan, dismissing the allegations as “falsehoods” and a display of “ignorance.”
In a press release dated August 28, and signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Dr. Sulaimon Olanrewaju, the governor’s office clarified that the financial arrangement approved by the state House of Assembly is not a fresh loan.
The press release directly targeted an unnamed APC lawmaker from the Saki West State Constituency, whom it accused of being “notorious for not attending plenaries.”
According to news reports, this lawmaker, Ibrahim Shittu, had alleged that the loan was “secretly approved” during a House recess.
However, the Oyo State House of Assembly had previously countered this, stating that an emergency plenary was duly called and that Hon. Shittu’s attendance record was “dismal.”
“First, there is no ₦300 billion “loan.” What the House of Assembly approved is: ₦149 billion for refinancing — this means replacing an older, more expensive loan with a new facility on better terms, thereby reducing the state’s repayment burden.
“₦151 billion for infrastructure investment and contractor financing — a structured arrangement that allows the government to fund ongoing and new projects while giving contractors the confidence to deliver on time.
“For the avoidance of doubt, refinancing is not new borrowing; it is simply responsible financial management. Contractor financing, on the other hand, ensures that critical projects are completed without choking government cash flow.”
The state government also used the press release to attack the APC’s record, accusing the party of leaving the state as a “civil service state” with “unpaid salaries, abandoned projects, and suffocating debts” during its eight years in power.
“It is important to remind the APC that it was under its eight years of misrule that Oyo State was reduced to a “civil service state,” with a grounded economy, unpaid salaries, abandoned projects, and suffocating debts, the statement read.
It emphasized its own administration’s financial achievements, including a rise in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from ₦20 billion in 2018 to over ₦70 billion in 2025.
The Oyo State Government directly challenged the lawmaker’s claim of a 500% increase in the state’s FAAC allocations. It stated that the actual increase is closer to 75% and mocked the lawmaker for his lack of “basic arithmetic.”
Nigerian Tribune
