Former governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has said Tinubu’s claim that he deserves to be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for his reforms was not based on altruistic reasons but on the negative impact he has had on the country.
In an interview with the Vanguard, Obi criticized Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, saying they have caused Nigerians untold hardship and widened the gap between the official and unofficial exchange rates.
“He may actually be correct when he claims that his name deserves to be in the Guinness World Records. Don’t forget that people’s names don’t always make it into the Guinness World Records for only altruistic reasons. So, it depends on which angle he is coming from. If the idea is to put his name in the Guinness Book of Records for causing Nigerians the most hardship – untold hardship, of course he is spot on and I will totally agree with him because his reforms are not achieving what they are meant to achieve,” he stated.
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Obi also said that while he agreed that the fuel subsidy had to be removed because it was not sustainable, there should have been gains from the removal, which Nigerians are not feeling.
“Yes, I agree that the fuel subsidy has to be removed because it is not sustainable, but there should have been gains from the removal. Right now, they say they are saving billions of Naira, which nobody is feeling the positive impact. The other subsidy is the exchange rate. They said when the Naira is floated, people will be able to access foreign exchange at the same rate. But today there is even a wider gap between the official exchange rate and the unofficial rate. The official rate is about N900 to $1 while the unofficial rate hovers between N1,300 to N1,400. So, the gap today is even bigger.
“The implication is that we are doing something that is just not right. It is not enough to claim that you have removed subsidy. And these are the things that we need to look into because the idea of reforms is that it is something that would have helped Nigeria to begin to walk on the right path, in the right direction and it must be all-inclusive,” he said.
Obi argued that reforms in governance should be in all sectors simultaneously, and should be transparent and inclusive. He said that he dealt with these issues holistically when he was a governor, and that was the only way to achieve positive results. He said that the idea of reforms was to help Nigeria to walk on the right path and in the right direction.
Obi also said that the biggest lesson he learnt from the 2023 elections was that Nigerians, especially the youths, were committed to good governance and were not as complacent as people thought they were.
He said that he was done with the issue of the 2023 elections and was now focused on the issues of governance that affect the average Nigerian today and tomorrow.
“But for me the elections have come and gone and I don’t want to talk about the issue of the 2023 elections again. It has come and gone and I am done with it.
“What I am talking about now are issues of governance because the average Nigerian today is talking about the Nigeria of today, and the Nigeria of tomorrow. That is what is important,” he stated.