The ruling party’s claim is in response to the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, new year press conference on Thursday where he lamented the political, economic and security, healthcare situation in the country.Obi said that the political, economic and security situation of Nigeria is worsening daily, despite government’s contrary positions and claims of improvement in different spheres of human endeavour.
“Our national challenges are visibly worsening. Our nation and its fortunes are in clear reverse. The indices are clearly indicative of our decline; thus our national indices tell a disconcerting story,” Obi said.
“Nigeria remains one of the poverty capitals of the world, with over 100 million people living in extreme poverty and more than 150 million in multidimensional poverty. The situation has deteriorated significantly over the past 18 months under the current administration.
“As a nation, we have fallen from being the largest economy in Africa, with a GDP of $574 billion and a per capita income of over $3,500 in 2014, to now ranking fourth on the continent. Our current GDP is less than 50% of what it was a decade ago, standing at approximately $200 billion, with a per capita income of barely $1,000.”
Speaking further, the former Anambra State governor claimed that “Nigeria remains one of the most insecure and least peaceful nations in the world, with countless communities and families displaced from their homes and now living in IDP camps. According to the Global Peace Index (GPI), Nigeria ranks 143rd out of 163 countries in terms of peacefulness – an indication of a high level of distress.”
He also lamented that food insecurity has become the country’s new national norm, making it one of the hungriest countries in the world.
However, the APC in a statement countering the former governor’s position, said, Obi’s claim “at a time when all indicators show that our country is rebounding in significant measure across all sectors, casts Obi, squarely, as Nigeria’s leading doomsayer.”
The statement signed by APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said Obi’s New Year message was misleading and appears intended to score cheap political points.
Morka said: “This claim, at a time when all indicators show that our country is rebounding in significant measure across all sectors, casts Obi, squarely, as Nigeria’s leading doomsayer.
“In reality, 18 months later, the economy under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, has showed steady record of progress – massive balance of trade surpluses; trillions in stock market wealth creation; a surge in foreign direct investments as a result of increased confidence in the economy; enhanced foreign reserve; significant decline in debt servicing ratio from 90 percent to about 64 percent; higher incomes for farmers; massive increase in federal allocation to states and local governments; deliberate and patriotic efforts to plug leakages and shore up the nation’s revenue base; restart of moribund Port-Harcourt and Warri refineries; remarkable improvement in oil production and export of petroleum products; the decimation of terrorist leaders and improvement in the security situation, and numerous other measures to meet the $1trillion economy target of this administration.
“Despite these and other initial beneficial outcomes of ongoing unprecedented reforms, the administration is doubling its effort to ensuring that the reforms deliver their fullest benefits for the sustainable growth and transformation of our country.
“In his New Year message, President Bola Tinubu acknowledged that the “cost of food and essential drugs remained a significant concern for many Nigerian households.” To reverse this trend, Mr. President assured that his administration was committed to lowering food prices by boosting food production and promoting local production of drugs.”
“Mindful of the threat that the current inflation rate poses to our economy, President Tinubu had also vowed to crash it from 34 percent to 15 per cent in course of this fiscal year.
“With the vigour in the administration’s war on corruption, evidenced by ongoing investigations and trial of well-heeled Nigerians, Obi’s pontification on the urgent need to tame corruption is a clear case of carrying coal to Newcastle.
“It is a thing of irony that Peter Obi, who now arrogates to himself to be omniscient and philosopher’s stone, when it comes to our nation’s challenges, left no record of significant achievement, let alone transformation of any kind, in his eight-year tenure as Governor of Anambra State.
“Like his co-travellers in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Obi’s obsessive pessimism and endless but futile effort to incite public outrage against the administration is borne out of their realization that President Tinubu is unwittingly cementing their ultimate political irrelevance by his visionary and full-throttle reform and transformation of the fundamental pillars of our national life.
“He deserves the support and patience of Nigerians in order to consolidate on the deep economic foundation he has laid, and deliver a vibrant, prosperous new Nigeria for the good of all. We urge Nigerians to remain confident of better days ahead.”
