Describes Statement As ‘Kettle Calling Pot Black’
The Chairman, Caretaker Committee of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Edo State, Col David Imuse (Rtd) has described as “spurious, alarmist, untrue and wicked”, the allegation by Governor Godwin Obaseki that Nigerians will soon wake up like the South American country, Argentina.
Obaseki had last week alleged that the Federal Government printed about N60 billion to augment allocation shared to states in the month of March.
He went further to say that by December this year, the country’s total borrowing would be in excess of 15 to 16 trillion.
But reacting to Obaseki’s claim, Col Imuse, in a statement signed by the Edo APC Assistant Publicity Secretary, Victor Osehobo described as “laughable unwarranted and unfounded claims” by Obaseki, adding that the the situation is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.
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The statement reads in part, “The true position is that under Governor Obaseki’s watch, the economy of Edo State is in dire straits with the Governor bereft of ideas about how to get it out, with a foreign debt of $300million and a domestic debt including loans from commercial banks, the capital market, and other doubtful sources, approaching N120billion as at March this year, for non-existent projects!”
The statement continues, “In the past seven months, Governor Obaseki has plunged Edo state into higher debts by taking more loans which has seen a 67 per cent increase in its debt profile. Edo state under Governor Obaseki has overtaken Rivers state as the state with the highest foreign and domestic debt in the South-South Nigeria, and is on a steady course to displace Lagos as Nigeria’s most indebted State.”
Col Imuse added that Edo State now spends more money servicing debts than on education, healthcare and infrastructure without a State Cabinet and an aged public service, whereas other states are working assiduously at reducing the debt burden on their citizens.
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“Some state governments have embarked on the reduction of their domestic debts as of the end of September 2020 according to the Debt Management Office which lists Kogi state government as having reduced the state debt from a cumulative N132.5 billion it was as of December 31, 2019, to N73, 314,904,696.35“, Col Imuse added
Col Imuse said that the PDP Edo state government led by Governor Obaseki is right now holding tenaciously to straws, by personalizing his criticism of the Nigerian government, and urged the governor not to hide under the title of Investment Banker to earn cheap fame.
He admonished Governor Obaseki to, “use the fora created by the National Economic Council, the Nigerian Governors forum and the Nigerian Economic Summit, of which he is a member to offer useful ideas, if he has any, rather than singling himself out for paediatric applause, because the management of Nigeria’s economy is not just the responsibility of one person, but that of the Nigerian government, of which he is a part”.
“For the governor’s purile claims to hold water, which it cannot, it has to be backed with facts, not speaking blindly with a pocket of sycophants at his Benin office. 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.”
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