A Civil Society Organisation in Osun State, The Osun Masterminds has given the Osun State House of Assembly, under Speaker Adewale Egbedun, to disclose within seven days, details of its 886,459,882.49 expenditure for the months of July, August and September 2023.
The organisation disclosed this during the December Edition of the state of the State address in Osogbo on Wednesday.
The Executive Director of the Civil Society Organisations, Prof. Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli revealed that failure to do so, there will be intervention from anti-corruption agencies to come take a look at the books of the Assembly.
The statement partly reads: “We keenly followed the debates that trailed the release of the Quarter 3 2023 Osun State budget performance and we are bothered that instead of government officials to show accountability and provide details of ambiguous spending, most of them went about claiming that the issues raised were coming from the opposition.
“One of our member organizations, Centre for Sustained Dialogue, on the 22nd day of November 2023, wrote a Freedom of Information request to the House of Assembly, demanding to know details of expenditure that amounted to Eight hundred and eighty-six million, four hundred and fifty-nine thousand, eight hundred and eighty-two Naira, forty-nine kobo (886,459,882.49) for the months of July, August and September.
“Let us first state that under section 2(4) of the Freedom of Information act, Public institutions are mandated to proactively disclose information within its custody. Thus, the request made by the Centre for Sustained Dialogue to the House of Assembly, is within the rights of the organization. Responding to that request is also an obligation that the House must discharge, being a public office guided by the rule of law.
“The Assembly has maintained a deafening silence that reeks of arrogance and unwillingness to hold itself accountable.
“As Centre for Sustained Dialogue (CSD) has earlier requested, we also now make an open request to the Osun State House of Assembly, under Adewale Egbedun, to disclose within 7 days, details of its 886,459,882.49 expenditure for the months of July, August and September 2023. The people of Osun State deserves to know what a 26-Member House of Assembly spent almost such a humongous figure on in just three months.
“We will not pre-empt the response of the Assembly, but we have reports that the Assembly recently splashed almost Forty Million Naira each on purchasing Toyota Fortuner SUVs for Members of the House of Assembly. The House, under Adewale Egbedun, must come out to give details of that expenditure.
“If it is indeed true that the House of Assembly spent such a fortune on buying cars for Members, then it is disheartening that in a State where government has repeatedly claimed it is frugally managing the finances of the State, the Assembly is splashing so much of Osun people’s collective resources on such frivolity.
“The House of Assembly has 7 days from today, to make details of that expenditure public, failing which we will have no choice but to approach relevant anti-corruption agencies to come take a look at the books of the Assembly”, the statement ended.
