The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Mr Peter Obi, has chided President Bola Tinubu Government over the claims of inheriting a bankrupt government.
In a statement posted on his X on Thursday, in reaction to President Tinubu and the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu’s claims that the administration met liabilities, Obi said the administration has failed to disclose the exact amount it met when former President Muhammadu Buhari handed over the power on May 29, 2023, adding that it lacked transparency and accountability.
He blasted the Tinubu administration for blaming the predecessor for its failures, recalling that former president Buhari did the same in 2015 after former President Goodluck Jonathan handed over power to him.
Obi wrote, “I just read yesterday, a widely publicized story from the present APC-led Federal Government saying that they inherited a bankrupt nation from their predecessor APC administration. But the story failed to disclose what they inherited which had qualified us for bankruptcy status.
“One major characteristic of responsible governance is transparency and strict accountability. This demands that the government disclose exactly the degree of deficit they inherited. What is inherited should be disclosed to enable the public to know where we are and where we are headed.
“Recall that the previous APC Government made a similar claim in 2015 against the PDP administration that handed over to them without telling the nation what it actually inherited.”
The former Anambra governor also knocked the government for humongous borrowing, which had increased the country’s debt relief while the economy has deteriorated making Nigerians grapple with hardship.
“Rather, they took our debt profile from N12.6 trillion in 2015 to N87 trillion in 2023 when they left office without improving on any indices of development: Education, Health, Poverty eradication, and Security.
“Instead, the condition of the nation on every development index got worse, leading to the present sad state. Nigerians know things are bad, and they experience it daily. What they now want to hear regularly are measurable and verifiable steps to improve the situation,” he said.
Obi further faulted some items included in the N2.17 trillion supplementary budget, accusing government officials of not cutting down on the cost of governance.
“Also, the alarm raised by the government about the bad state of our finances raises questions about the rationale behind some expenditure items in the supplementary budget recently signed into law.
“The present revelation also goes to buttress the argument that I have made since electioneering season that the cost of governance is too high and must be drastically reduced. A bankrupt country should channel every available resource into funding critical development sectors like security, healthcare, education, and eradication of poverty by addressing youth unemployment, not spending in non-essential areas. So, what we expect are measurable and verifiable steps to improve the situation.”
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