TheCable

The Edo chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has tackled Godwin Obaseki, governor of the state, over his comments that Nigeria is in huge financial trouble.

Last Thursday, during the state transition committee stakeholders engagement, Obaseki said the federal government printed N60 billion as part of federal allocation for March.

He noted that the country’s rising debt profile is worrisome as dependence on crude oil is no longer sustainable.

Obaseki’s comments have since elicited reactions on and off social media.

But reacting, David Imuse, chairman of the Edo APC caretaker committee, likened the governor’s comments to “a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black”.

Imuse, in a statement issued on Monday by Ofure Osheobo, assistant secretary of the committee, claimed that Obaseki has plunged Edo into more debt.

“The true position is that under Obaseki’s watch, the economy of Edo is in dire straits with the governor bereft of ideas on how to get it out,” NAN quoted him to have said.

“The state is engulfed in a foreign debt of 300 million dollars and a domestic debt, including loans from commercial banks, the capital market, and other doubtful sources, approaching N120 billion as at March, for non-existent projects.

“In the past seven months, Obaseki has plunged Edo into higher debts by taking more loans which has seen a 67 percent increase in its debt profile.

“Edo under him has overtaken Rivers as the state with the highest foreign and domestic debt in the South South and it is on a steady course to displace Lagos as Nigeria’s most indebted state.”

He urged Obaseki to use his membership of the national economic council, Nigerian Governors’ Forum, and the Nigerian Economic Summit to offer possible solutions on how to move the economy forward.

“Everybody today knows that since 2015 when APC came on the scene, Nigeria has been on the path of progress and things are definitely much better than how PDP left it,” he added.