A Group, Ekiti Concerned Professionals, has commended the Debt Management Office’s (DMO) report that condemned the claims by Ekiti State governor, Abiodun Oyebanji, that his government had not borrowed a penny since assuming office in 2023, as well as that the state’s debt stock had increased.

According to the group, the DMO’s report disproved the governor’s claims, revealing a loan stock of $31 million between June 2023 and December 2024. It also said that the DMO’s report on the stock of external debts by states, Federal Capital Territory and the Federal Government, covering between June 2023 and December 2024, revealed that Ekiti State’s external debt rose from $103,479,209.05 to $134,586,529.60 within the period.

This revelation by the DMO came amid the chest thumbing and self-adulation by the governor of having not borrowed to finance infrastructure and development projects in the state.

“The state government claimed in 2024 that it spent a whopping N3.7 billion for the engagement of youth in labour-intensive projects in the state, a claim that is also falling flat in the face of no evidence of such projects across the state as youth unemployment remains high and at an alarming level,” the group stated.