Disclose what you inherited to the public to know where we are headed – Peter Obi replies Tinubu over inheriting liabilities

Peter Obi, the presidential nominee of the Labour Party for the 2023 elections, responded to assertions from the Federal Government about inheriting a financially troubled nation.

In a statement issued on Thursday, November 16, Obi disputed the government’s claims, stating that they lacked a solid basis. He further contended that the government had not been transparent in revealing the complete scope of the country’s financial challenges. According to him, they failed to disclose what they inherited which has qualified the country as bankrupt.

Obi said, “I just read yesterday, a widely publicised 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.” 

“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.” 

“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,” Obi said. 

“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.”