Disclose level of indebtedness inherited from Buhari, Obi dares Tinubu

• Says APC govt wasteful, took Nigeria’s debt from N12.6trn to N87trn in 8 years

By Chinelo Obogo, Lagos

President candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Mr. Peter Obi has said that for the sake of accountability and transparency, President Bola Tinubu, should disclose the level of indebtedness he inherited from his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.

Responding to a statement credited to the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, who said Tinubu’s administration inherited a bankrupt economy, Obi said his statement failed to disclose what they inherited which had qualified Nigeria for bankruptcy status.

He said: “I just read yesterday, a widely publicises 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

“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.

“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.”