BUSINESS DAY
Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, has urged the Nigerian government to cut governance costs drastically, noting that the government is becoming wasteful.
He said this at an exclusive interview with News Central on Wednesday.
“Please, cut the cost of governance drastically,. It is too much waste,” Obi said.
“We have to show what is being removed in subsidy and where it is being applied. If the fuel subsidy is gone and the electricity subsidy is gone, then tell the people where it is going,” he said.
Obi said what Nigerians will want to see is Nigerian politicians starting to sacrifice, noting that “the politicians are still enjoying.”
The former governor of Anambra State, while restating that he once promised to remove fuel subsidy in his manifesto, said, “I have to first remove the criminality associated with the fuel subsidy and I would have been able to replace it with an alternative.”
“Now people are ready to sacrifice but you cannot ask people to fast while you are feasting. The people are suffering,” he said speaking to the Nigerian government.
He said looking at the Nigerian debt rising ‘irresponsibly,’ there is nothing bad in borrowing because people borrow globally.
He cited Singapore which owes over 100 percent of its GDP and Japan owing 200 percent, noting that the money borrowed by Japan was used for the economy and the people. He said China has a huge debt but the debt was invested.
READ THE FULL STORY IN BUSINESS DAY
