Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the just concluded election stated that the All Progressive Congress has failed to improve the country within the indices of development: Education, Health, Poverty eradication, and Security.
He made this known after the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu claimed that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration inherited a bankrupt country from the Muhammadu Buhari regime.
“We are facing very serious budgetary constraints. It is okay for me to tell you. It is fine for you to know. We have a very serious situation.”
“We have inherited a very difficult country, a bankrupt country to the extent that we are paying back what was taken. It is serious.
“But this administration is doing its best to meet our requirements including that of the armed forces.”
Mr Obi faulted his claim and inquired why the APC-led Federal government failed to inform Nigerians what it inherited from the previous administration to qualify for bankruptcy revealing that transparency and accountability are the characteristics of a responsible government.
“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 inherited. 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.”
The former Anambra State Governor also lambasted the Federal government on its supplementary budget stating that its scarce resources should be channeled to improving the country instead of purchasing frivolities.
He also said that a responsible government is expected to talk about measures and steps to improve the situation it inherited and repeated that the cost of governance in Nigeria is too high and must be reduced drastically.
“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. 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. -PO”
