Peter Obi, vice presidential candidate to Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) attacks the All Progressives Congress (APC) government on the fight against corruption during 2018 vice-presidential candidates debate organised by the Nigeria Elections Debate Group (NEDG) and the Broadcast Organisations of Nigeria (BON).
 |
| Yemi Osinbajo |
The debate which held Friday at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, has five vice presidential candidates in attendance; Ganiyu Galadima of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Khadija Abdullahi-Iya of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Yemi Osinbajo; incumbent vice president of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peter Obi of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Umma Getso of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) and with each of them given equal opportunity to defend their party manifesto.
Obi on his part criticises the federal government for taking the fight against corruption as an economic policy while Nigeria unemployment rate is on the increase.
According to Obi, "fighting corruption is not an economic policy. It is not that you cannot fight corruption but you can fight it more aggressively while addressing economic issues.
"For example, in 2015, unemployment was 24 per cent, today is 40 per cent. "In 2015, we attracted $21bn in Foreign Direct Investment but we attracted only $12bn last year. "Our GDP was $500bn in 2015 while per capita was $2,500 today it is under $1,900.
"If you look at our stock market, we have lost over N2trillion in one year. "So, that is not a policy.
"You are just fighting corruption, you are not creating jobs. "You cannot shut down your shop and be chasing criminals", he added.
Osinbajo, however, defends the FG on the fight against corruption as he credited the problem in Nigeria to the past government.
"If you allow criminals to steal all the inventory in the shop, there will be no shop.
"That's the problem. And what has happened in Nigeria in the past 16 years is what the World Bank told us; that the major cause of our poverty is corruption.
"That is what we've been told. "So, let me say there is no way we can minimise.
"You can't minimise corruption; if you minimise it, we run the risk of completely - in fact, the argument is lost.
"We cannot do what we want to do unless we are able to minimise corruption or eradicate it completely, which is what we're trying to do", he said.
The other candidates also aired their views on Nigeria economy issues.
Also related; Vice presidential candidates available for 2018 debate
No comments:
Post a Comment