The Oyo State Government has refuted claims that Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration recently secured a N300 billion loan.

Saturday Telegraph reports that the N300 billion allegation was raised by Ibrahim Shittu, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) representing Saki West in the Oyo State House of Assembly.

He argued that he was neither informed about the emergency plenary reportedly held on August 19 nor part of any approval process, which the State Assembly has, however, dismissed.

Debunking the allegation in a statement dated August 28 and released on Friday,  Governor Makinde’s media aide, Dr. Sulaimon Olanrewaju, described the opposition’s allegation as “baseless” and “mischievous,” insisting that no such loan exists.

 “There is no N300 billion ‘loan.’ What the House of Assembly approved is: N149 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.

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“N151 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.” The statement read

The government clarified that the refinancing initiative “is not new borrowing; it is simply responsible financial management,” adding that contractor financing was introduced to “ensure that critical projects are completed without choking government cash flow.”

It further criticised the APC lawmaker who raised the matter, describing him as “notorious for not attending plenaries” and alleging that “in his desperation to mislead the public, he claimed that there has been a 500 per cent increase in FAAC allocations to Oyo State.”

“Basic arithmetic would have shown him that the actual increase is about 75 per cent.

“By contrast, the rise in the national minimum wage from ₦30,000 to ₦80,000 represents an increase of about 170 per cent. That the lawmaker cannot distinguish between a 75 per cent increase and 500 per cent only confirms that he neither understands figures nor governance,” the government noted.

The government also drew comparisons between its performance and that of the previous APC-led administration, highlighting what it described as stronger fiscal discipline and improved project delivery under Governor Makinde.

“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 further read.

The statement noted that the Makinde administration “took tough but strategic financial decisions that moved Oyo State out of the trenches,” stressing that Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) has increased from about N20 billion annually in 2018 under the APC to over N70 billion in 2025, without imposing additional tax burdens on residents.

The government explained that the financing arrangement would fund “legacy projects such as Phase 2 of the 110 km Rashidi Ladoja Circular Road, which is expected to open new economic corridors; the completion of the Samuel Ladoke Akintola Airport upgrade to reposition the state for international investment; and the construction of additional feeder roads across all zones of Oyo State.”

“Governor Seyi Makinde remains committed to transparent financial management and investments that will make Oyo State self-sustaining, competitive, and prosperous.

“No amount of APC propaganda can erase the truth: Oyo State is working, Oyo State is growing, And Oyo State will not return to the dark days of APC misrule,” the statement concluded