The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the last election has told President Bola Tinubu to disclose to Nigerians exactly what he inherited from the past administration.
The call followed the claim on Monday by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, that the present administration is faced with challenges because it inherited a bankrupt country.
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“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 those of the armed forces,” he told a conference.
But in a series of posts on his verified X handle, Obi advised the government to disclose exactly what it inherited so that Nigerians would know the direction in which they were headed.
He reminded the administration that the mark of a good government is transparency and strict accountability.
The former Anambra State governor posted: “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 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 it 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 it 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.
“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.”