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For transparency, accountability sake disclose the exact degree of deficit you inherited – Obi tells FG

For transparency, accountability sake disclose the exact degree of deficit you inherited – Obi tells FG

By Admin

Nov. 16, 2023

…Says alarm raises questions about the rationale behind some expenditure items in the supplementary budget

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi says the alarm raised by the Federal Government about the bad state of the country’s finances raises questions about the rationale behind some expenditure items in the supplementary budget recently signed into law.

Obi in a message on X on Thursday noted that the present APC-led Federal Government said they inherited a bankrupt nation from their predecessor but failed to disclose what they inherited which had qualified us for bankruptcy status.

According to him, the present revelation also goes to buttress the argument that he has 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”.

“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.

“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.