The Osun State Government has announced a significant reduction in the state’s debt profile, stating that Governor Ademola Adeleke has cut the debt burden by 43 percent between 2022 and 2025.
In a statement released on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, the state government described the development as a testament to Governor Adeleke’s prudent fiscal management, commitment to transparency, and effective debt restructuring strategy.
The statement read, in part, “Between December 2022 and the first quarter of 2025, Osun State, under the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke, recorded a significant decline in both domestic and external debts.
“The domestic debt dropped from N148.37 billion to N83.32 billion, while the external debt reduced from $91.78 million to $75.14 million. These figures reflect the administration’s deliberate fiscal actions to reduce the state’s debt burden and improve financial sustainability.
“The reduction in domestic debt was especially noteworthy, with a repayment of N65 billion, which represents a 43.84% decrease over the period. This level of decline indicates commitment to aggressive debt repayment and fiscal responsibility,” the Osun state Government stated.
The Osun State Government stated further that the debt reduction has helped improve the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), which allows it to meet credit obligations.
According to the statement, this meant that the state has “managed to reduce its external debt by $16.64million,a decrease of 18.13% despite the high exchange rate.”
“The debt reductions point to strong Governor Adeleke’s fiscal discipline and effective leadership in economic management,” the statement added.
Earlier during the week, the Osun state Government had accused a former Governor of the state, Engineer Rauf Aregbesola, of plunging the state into debt before leaving office.
In a statement signed by spokesperson to the State Governor, Mallam Olawale Rasheed on Monday, the Aregbesola government stated that the former Governor as “a man who left a legacy of huge state debt, half salary, scam tablets and several fanciful, inflated, uncompleted projects”, describing his tenure as “the worst in Osun history”.
The spokesperson stated further, “Mr Aregbesola’s wickedness against workers, public servants, and Osun people knows no bounds while he wielded state power. A man who introduced half salary, misapplied the contributory state pension fund, and misused the state cooperative deductions fund should be ashamed of his temerity.
“Within less than three years, Governor Adeleke has surpassed government delivery of the eight years of Mr Aregbesola without borrowing a kobo for infrastructure projects,” he noted.
According to the latest DMO data for Q1 2025, Osun State’s debt profile is N83.3 billion.
The data showed that the total debts owed by the 36 states and FCT stood at N3,87 trillion.
Nigeria’s total public debt rose to N149.39 trillion as of March 31, 2025, marking a year-on-year increase of N27.72 trillion or 22.8% when compared to the N121.67 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2024.