As Nigeria commemorates 25 years of continuous democracy and President Bola Tinubu completes his first year in office, Peter Obi, the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, has delivered a harsh critique of Tinubu’s administration. During an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, Obi remarked that Tinubu has excelled in continuing what he termed “Buhari’s legacy of failure.”
Obi’s criticism focused on deteriorating economic indicators, highlighting the significant surge in prices of goods and services since Tinubu assumed office. While initially appearing to praise the president, Obi’s sarcasm soon became evident.
“I’ve never made comments about one year in office. The reason why is simple. I would say that President Tinubu has kept to his campaign promises. Throughout the campaign, he consistently maintained that he will continue from where Buhari stopped and he’s done very well. I would say excellent. I’ll give him an excellent pass mark,” Obi said.
Obi then presented a detailed assessment of the economy, stating, “Dollar was 460, it’s now 1,500. Fuel was 238, it’s now about 700. Diesel was 844, it’s now 1,415. A bag of rice was 30-35 thousand, now about 80 (thousand). A bag of beans was similar, 30-35 (thousand), now about 90 (thousand). Garri was 27-28 (thousand), now 49-50 (thousand). A tuber of yam was about 2,700 to 3,000, now it’s about 10,000. Tomato basket was about 40,000, now it’s over 150,000. Electricity that was 66 kilowatts is now over 200 (kw). You can go on and on.”
Obi continued by criticizing the growing national debt and the increasing cost of basic necessities. “Even bread, which other countries subsidise, is now unaffordable. A small medium bread for 450 naira is now 900 naira. The big one was 900, it’s now 1,500. Our debt was 87 trillion naira. By the end of last year, it was actually 97 trillion, the highest we’ve gone within that short period. Now it’s over 100 trillion.”
Lamenting the dire state of the economy, Obi said, “When Tinubu took over last year, we were still the biggest economy in Africa with a $477 billion GDP. Today, we are number 4 with a $252 billion GDP. Our per capita GDP has also plummeted. We are now at 1,000 plus, significantly lower than South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco.”
Obi concluded by addressing other issues: “Every other thing has headed south. Is it insecurity? It has worsened. Corruption has worsened, adherence to the rule of law has worsened, nepotism is at its highest.”
