Tinubu has borrowed nearly $100bn, yet Nigerians remain poor – Obi

Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has challenged President Bola Tinubu to explain how his administration utilised nearly $100 billion in borrowed funds over the past three years.

Obi, who spoke on Friday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, during the homecoming ceremony of the party’s national leader, Senator Seriake Dickson, and the inauguration of the NDC secretariat, also called on Nigerians to reject the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the next election.

The former Anambra State governor questioned the administration’s handling of the economy, alleging that despite the huge borrowings, Nigerians were still grappling with poverty, hunger, unemployment and inadequate social infrastructure.

He argued that the country needed a president with the energy and capacity to address its challenges, insisting that Nigeria could no longer afford leadership that, in his view, had failed to deliver meaningful improvements in the lives of citizens.

He said, “Today we have a country that produces the highest number of poor people in the world. Today we have a country where our people are hungry, Nigerians don’t know where the next meal will come from anymore.

“In Nigeria today, if you are sick, instead of going to hospital, you go to church because there is no hospital, so you can only pray for God to save you. We have a country where there are no schools. We have a country where youths are looking for jobs, but no jobs.

“What do we want to do? We are telling you that NDC is coming to build a new Nigeria that is possible. We want to move Nigeria from consumption to production.”

Obi also questioned the purpose of the loans obtained by the Federal Government, demanding that the President provide Nigerians with details of how the borrowed funds had been spent.

He said, “Our president has borrowed nearly $100 billion, nobody knows what he did with the money, we want the president to come and explain to Nigerians what he used the money he borrowed to do in the past three years.

“He said he’s busy, he has been busy for the past three years going overseas, now we went into a campaign, he said he is busy. APC government is incompetent, APC government doesn’t have the capacity. They don’t have compassion, they cannot be chosen.”

The NDC presidential candidate further urged Nigerians to support his party’s proposed alternative, saying it would prioritise production as a strategy for addressing the country’s economic difficulties.