The Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has dismissed reports that his administration spent N3.1 billion on domestic and international travel within six months, saying the claims are misleading and politically motivated.
A news platform (not PUNCH Online) had reported that the expenditure of N3.1billion on domestic and international travels within six months was far above the allocation to other ministries.
In a statement released on Monday, the governor’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, clarified that the figure quoted was not for travel alone, but rather the full-year budgetary allocation for training and capacity building across over 100 ministries, departments, and agencies in the state for 2025.
Rasheed also revealed that he often uses his family’s private jet for travel in order to reduce the financial burden on the state.
“The amount quoted for Governor Adeleke was negligible because the Governor footed most of his travel through his family’s private jet, just like the case of his recent trip to the United States of America,” the statement said.
The governor’s aide further stated that the figures published were extracted from the state’s own website as part of efforts to promote transparency and accountability.
“There are no smoking guns. We urge those interested in full breakdown of the state expenditure to apply for requisite information under the federal Freedom of Information Act,” he added.
Describing the media reports as opposition-sponsored, Rasheed said they were aimed at misrepresenting legitimate expenses for training and official engagements.
“The sponsored publication is a failed attempt by the opposition to misrepresent and mischaracterise much-needed expenditure on local and international training programmes for public servants, service-wide facility maintenance costs and several critical overhead expenses across over 100 government agencies,”the statement said.
Rasheed stressed that Governor Adeleke is only one among several government officials whose travel and training-related costs are captured under the overall budget.
“So it is incorrect to say Governor Adeleke spent so much on travelling. Also, one has to probe the importance of these travels and training and the value it brings to the state now and in the near future,” he said.
Rasheed also highlighted key international engagements attended by Osun officials in the first half of 2025, including the Commonwealth Business Investment Conference, where Adeleke led a team that signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ESG Management Services UK Ltd. to attract investments into agriculture, manufacturing, solid minerals, and other strategic sectors.
He noted that many agencies had already undertaken their local and international training in the first half of the year because of the anticipated kick-off of pre-2026 political activities in the latter part of the year.
