The Oyo Rising Citizens Forum (ORCF) has issued a fierce condemnation of Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration, accusing the executive of pushing Oyo State toward systematic financial bankruptcy and trapping future generations under an indefensible ₦485 billion debt burden.
In a press statement signed by Alaba Adebisi and Owolabi Salam in Ibadan, the prominent civil society group declared that the administration’s insatiable appetite for borrowing has effectively mortgaged the state’s economic sovereignty.
The group’s outrage follows the Oyo State House of Assembly’s recent approval of a fresh ₦100 billion infrastructure loan from United Bank for Africa alongside a massive ₦300 billion debt restructuring package.
The ORCF noted with dismay that Governor Makinde inherited a relatively stable financial baseline of ₦126.37 billion from the late Senator Abiola Ajimobi in May 2019, which official Debt Management Office data broke down into ₦94.14 billion in domestic obligations and $104.99 million in external liabilities.
“Despite initial political rhetoric claiming the previous administration left empty coffers, the official figures paint a picture of a functional economy that has now been buried under a soaring liabilities ceiling that sits at an estimated ₦468.24 billion to ₦485 billion.”
The forum argued that this dramatic escalation is completely unjustifiable given that Makinde has overseen the largest revenue boom in the history of Oyo State, fueled by explosive growth in Internally Generated Revenue and record-breaking federal windfalls.
According to the group, the state’s annual IGR grew from ₦26.59 billion in 2019 to a historic peak of ₦103.00 billion in 2025, pushing monthly internal averages beyond ₦8.5 billion.
“Concurrently, post-subsidy federal allocation receipts distributed to Oyo State and its local governments crossed a staggering ₦727.21 billion between mid-2023 and mid-2025.”
This fiscal inflow accelerated even further into 2026, with the state pocketing ₦168.49 billion in FAAC allocations between January and July alone, bringing the current monthly federal average to an unprecedented ₦24.07 billion.
The ORCF emphasised that with combined monthly inflows regularly exceeding ₦32 billion, there is absolutely no reason why the administration should have drawn down ₦164.8 billion in fresh loans during the first quarter of 2026 alone, or rushed to the legislature for another ₦100 billion.
The forum stated that hiding behind the excuse of inflation is a lazy defense for an administration that is actively trading away the state’s future stability for political ambition, demanding an immediate, transparent audit of exactly how these hundreds of billions have been utilised before the state is plunged into irreversible economic ruin.