• Says majority of the debts are from APC-controlled states
Incoming main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has berated Vice President-elect, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, accusing him of misrepresenting facts regarding the nation’s economy particularly, the correct status of the nation’s government debt stock, stating that it is ostensibly to further the attempts by the in-coming APC administration to discredit the PDP.
The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, on Monday, criticized the Vice President-elect for failing to be bold and honest enough to also inform the nation that the bulk of the $63.7 billion debt was incurred by APC states.
“It is indeed unfortunate that the Vice President-elect who has the details of the debt stock chose to be economical with the truth and to mislead Nigerians just to discredit the current PDP-led administration and rationalize APC’s unpreparedness for governance.
“Prof. Osinbajo is aware that the $63.7 billion is made up of external and domestic debts belonging not only to the Federal Government but to federal and state governments and accumulating since the 1960s, yet he deliberately misrepresented the facts to give the unsuspecting public the impression that the amount was exclusively incurred by the current Federal Government.
“Perhaps the Vice President-elect avoided the details so as not to expose the fact that the APC controlled Lagos state has both the highest external debt stock of $1,169, billion as well as the highest domestic debt stock of N278, 867 billion.“Furthermore we find it unacceptable and unstatesmanly for the Vice President-elect to attempt to mislead Nigerians into believing that the total federal debt component was accumulated under the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration, when it is on record that a greater chunk of the amount was inherited”, the statement said.
The party said it was also on record that part of the contemporary borrowing from the domestic bond market was occasioned by the global economic and financial crisis as well as the downturn in crude oil revenue, which adversely affected other economies of the world.
-Thisday