Liability Inheritance Claim: Disclose Deficit Inherited, Obi Tells FG

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has called on the federal government and President Bola Tinubu to come clean on the level of bankruptcy of the country by disclosing the actual degree of deficit inherited from the previous administration.

Obi made this known while reacting to the claim by President Tinubu that his government inherited liabilities from his immediate predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.

Osun Defender recalls that Tinubu had, while meeting with the Vice-President (Country Programs) of the Islamic Development Bank, Mansur Muhtar, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, last week, said his administration “inherited serious liabilities” when it took over power on May 29.

Reacting, Peter Obi, in a statement on Thursday, questioned why Tinubu failed to give details of the liabilities inherited from the previous government.

According to the former Anambra governor, whatever the administration inherited should be made known to the general public, saying a responsible government should be transparent and accountable.

The statement reads, “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. However, the report 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 let the public know where we are and where we are headed”.

Obi recalled that the immediate past government of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, made a similar claim in 2015 when it took over power from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

He lamented that despite the claims, the Buhari administration failed to improve on what it inherited, stressing that it left the country with a heavier debt burden.

“Instead, 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.

“The nation’s condition 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 statement added.