Ogun local and foreign debts is N103 billion - Amosun

Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State says the State is not owing more than N103 billion local and foreign debts.

Amosun who made this known while addressing teachers at a ceremony marking the 2017 World Teacher's Day, held at Arcade ground, at Oke-Mosan Governor's office, Abeokuta, the state capital. put the figure of local debt by the government at about N70 billion,

He added that the debt included N48.9 billion debt handed to him by his predecessor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and a foreign loan of about N40 billion since the days of Olabisi Onabanjo, while justifying the recent loan request of $350 from the World Bank, he said it is only rational to take the loan at 1% interest rate in the interest of development in the state.

The Governor explained that World Bank was offering 35% of the entire loan allocated for Nigeria to Ogun State.

He added that the state is the best in terms of financial management in Nigeria, while the loans were requested because of his love for the state.

Amosun said just like Lagos and Edo states, the loan will be benefitted by his successors as his administration can't access more than 10% of the loan before its expiration.

He said, "Clearly, every debt is about 103 billion including foreign and local. Even if you take the foreign loan which was about 40 billion, I didn't take the loan, our forebears did.

"If those ones are grants with 0.5%, they are just like 'dash', when people are shouting that we are taking loans, World Bank is not stupid, what they probably have is $1billion and they are giving Ogun State alone 35% of that, $350m dollars at 1% or 1.5%.

"That money is because of love we have for Ogun State, if not, I would have stopped the loan because of these talks, but this is the time, I will not be the administration that will collect this money, at best, we will be given 10% next years because world bank has procedures.

"Officially, Ogun State is owing little over 70billion, the one that is local that can be ascribed to this administration. How can anybody that is rational will see a loan of 1% and you're saying 'don't take', they clearly do not know, and you can't give what you don't have.

"My predecessor officially said they left N49.8 billion dollars, that was what was left in the handover note, if all that we've added to it is about $20 billion, can't you see what we've done?"

He added that he opted to repay the bail out for 10 years as against 20 years proposed by the Federal Government because of his financial re-engineering in the state, saying he has saved the state.