Governance Cost: Tinubu must show leadership, says Obi

The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, says President Bola Tinubu must lead from the front by cutting the cost of governance. The former Anambra State governor stated this on Thursday morning when he held a press conference in Abuja on the state of the nation.

Obi said Tinubu should use local hospitals and visit educational institutions in the country to ascertain the level of development in the nation’s educational and healthcare sectors. Obi said the level of corruption in Nigeria remained high just as the cost of governance which he said has led to an astronomical increase in public debt under the current administration. He said borrowings must be tied to projects that would bring development to the country as against the current template of borrowing for consumption.

He alleged that government officials willfully mismanaged public funds in 2024 through incessant foreign trips. The LP chieftain said the President should travel by road once in a while to feel the deplorable state of public roads. Obi recalled how he took President Olusegun Obasanjo from Awka to Onitsha by road as Governor of Anambra State which led to the award of the contract for the road. Obi condemned the endemic poverty that has led to stampedes for palliatives in parts of the country, as the new minimum wage has not solved the hunger crisis in the land.

He also called the security situation in the country unfortunate, saying Nigerians die needlessly due to banditry, terrorism, and kidnapping. He said Tinubu should understand he is no longer the governor of Lagos State and should spend festive seasons in other parts of the country to feel the pain of the people. Obi said the tax reform bills must be thoroughly debated, arguing that tax should be a function of production, and if the majority of Nigerians live in poverty, the government must first make Nigeria a productive nation before taxing the people.