The spokesperson to Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, Olawale Rasheed, has dismissed recent reports published in the media about the state’s spending on travel, meals, refreshment, cleaning, and fumigation.

On Thursday, Sahara Reporters revealed that the Osun State Government spent the sum of ₦3.1 billion on international travels in the first half of the year.

The Guardian, in a report published on Sunday, revealed that the state government spent over ₦1.7 billion on refreshment, meals, cleaning, and fumigation services between January and June of 2025.

In a statement released on Monday morning, the governor’s spokesperson dismissed the reports, describing them as misleading and politically motivated.

According to Rasheed, the travel costs reflect the near-full-year training budget for over 100 state agencies and not personal travel expenses by the governor.

He added that the bulk of the expenditure covers international and domestic travel by commissioners, permanent secretaries, heads of parastatals, directors, and management staff of tertiary institutions. These travels, he said, were aimed at capacity building and attracting investment to the state.

The spokesperson also argued that the cost was inflated by the depreciation of the naira, noting that acquiring $1,000 now costs about ₦1.6 million compared to ₦400,000 in previous years.

“Despite the high exchange rate, this administration has cut down the number of delegates and frequency of travels compared to past administrations. It is unfair and mischievous for the opposition to mischaracterise these necessary expenses as wasteful,” he said.

Addressing The Guardian’s reports, Rasheed explained that the figures represent comprehensive upkeep expenses for the state secretariat, government offices, public schools, health facilities, and parastatals.

He reiterated that there was no attempt to hide spending details, noting that the figures were published by the state government itself as a demonstration of its commitment to transparency.

“There are no smoking guns. The public is welcome to request further breakdowns of the expenditure under the Freedom of Information Act,” he said.