Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 general elections, has argued that Nigeria must use unwavering resolve to fight corruption, misappropriation, and fiscal recklessness.
He claimed that Nigeria must stop acting as a “crime scene” and be repositioned for real development in a post on X with the title “Nigeria continues to be a relentless scene of corruption.”
He argued that to ensure our people’s future, the nation’s national resources must be responsibly managed and strategically invested in key sectors like education, healthcare, and poverty alleviation.
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Obi responded to a non-governmental organization’s claim that the 2025 budget was squandered while addressing the controversy.
He added that “the country cannot invest adequately in education, which is why there are nearly 20 million children who are not in school anymore,” and that is why. The corruption that has harmed primary healthcare has led to alarming numbers of malnourished children.
Our leaders ignore agricultural investment because of persistent mismanagement and a lack of accountability, despite the widespread hunger we face. Similar disregard has an impact on our ability to effectively fund national security or to support Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which are essential to national growth.
“These blatant acts of corruption confirm my claim that Nigeria has been reduced to a crime scene,” I said.
In a statement signed by a senior communications officer, Nancy Odimegwu, a prominent civic tech organization dedicated to promoting accountability and transparency in Nigeria’s public finances, the National Assembly inserted 11, 122 projects valued at $6.93 trillion into the budget for the 2025 Federal Government.
The issue has not yet received any comments from the Presidency or the National Assembly.
Obi claimed, however, that the figure only represented a small portion of the actual amount cheated up.
How else can we explain the troubling revelations made by BudgIT, which included a staggering $7 trillion in dubious projects for the 2025 national budget? I’m persuaded that this figure only accounts for a small portion of the actual misappropriation.
These findings confirm my long-held claim that we have turned our nation into a crime location. To effectively and effectively manage our resources, we must urgently and systematically combat corruption, misappropriation, and fiscal recklessness, and invest in essential areas of development, such as education, health, and rescuing our people from poverty, he said.
The former governor of Anambra State claimed that the figure exceeded the ministry’s total funding for agriculture, poverty alleviation, humanitarian aid, and education.
The Ministry of Education received a sum of $3.52 trillion, to be precise. 2.48 trillion was given to the Ministry of Health. 260 billion dollars were given to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, and 636.08 billion to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
According to Obi, “together, these four ministries were given a total budget of $6.896 trillion, which is an already exaggerated sum,” but it is still less than the $7 trillion budget was dubiously injected into.
Source: Channels TV
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