The Osun State House of Assembly has said the balance of the bailout given to the state government is N3.352m while that of the local government councils is approximately N173.23m and not N3.362bn.

The Chairman, House of Assembly Committee on Information and Strategies, Mr. Olatubosun Oyintiloye, said this in a statement issued on Friday.

He said the figure reported in some newspapers was an error, while stating that the balance of the fund given to the local government councils is approximately N173.23m and that it is domiciled with Zenith Bank Plc. He added that the balance of the bailout that was given to the state that is with First Bank Plc is N2.04m while the amount with Wema Bank Plc is N1.312m.

According to him, these figures were given by the Accountant-General of the state, Mr. Akintayo Kolawole, when he appeared before the House of Assembly to give an account of how the bailout was utilised.

Oyintiloye said representatives of the banks present during the probe are: Adebayo Yakub (First Bank), Musbau Oyeniran (Wema Bank) and Ola Adedeji (Zenith Bank). These bank officials corroborated the figure given by the accountant-general.

He stated that the state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Jacob Adekomi; Chairman, Joint Negotiation Council, Adebayo Adejumo; and other labour leaders, were present at the probe and they corroborated the figure given by the accountant-general.

He said, “The balance of the bailout given to the state is N2.04m, which is in First Bank and N1.312m in Wema Bank. The bailout to the local government (councils) remains N173,226,000. The figure reported was a mistake and the error is regretted.”