APC knocks Obaseki on state of economy

 The All Progressives Congress (APC) has faulted claims by Governor Godwin Obaseki that Nigerian economy is in critical situation due to huge debt burden.

Col. David Imuse (retd), chairman of the state APC caretaker committee, in a statement by Mr Ofure Osheobo, the assistant secretary of the committee, described Obaseki’s criticism of the Federal Government on handling of the economy as “a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.”

“The true position is that under Obaseki’s watch, the economy of Edo is in dire straits with the governor bereft of ideas on how to get it out.

 

“The state is engulfed in a foreign debt of 300 million dollars and a domestic debt including loans from commercial banks, the capital market, and other doubtful sources, approaching N120billion as at March, for non-existent projects.

“In the past seven months, Obaseki has plunged Edo into more debt by taking more loans which has seen a 67 per cent increase in its debt profile.

“Edo under him has overtaken Rivers as the state with the highest foreign and domestic debt in the South South and it is on a steady course to displace Lagos as Nigeria’s most indebted state,” he said.

 

Imuse said while Kogi had successfully reduced its domestic debt from N132.5 billion to N73 billion, Edo has spent more money servicing debts than financing education, healthcare and infrastructure even without a state cabinet.