The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Delta State, Monday, said the All Progressives Congress, APC, lacked the credibility to discuss debt management in the State.
It said the All Progressives Congress, APC-led Federal Government “has presided over heavy and reckless borrowing, escalating the national debt stock from about N7 trillion after the 16 years of the PDP governance to over N90 trillion under its eight years, leading to a situation in which 97% of Nigeria’s national revenue was devoted to debt servicing and the attendant reduced revenue allocations to States and Local Governments.”
The PDP, stated this while reacting to what it described as the “misguided propaganda” by the Delta State Chapter of the APC, to misinform the public on the debt management measures being undertaken by the administration of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori.
The State chapter of the PDP, in a statement by it’s Secretary, Mr. Dan Ossai, said the APC “merely tried to disinform the public by attempting to play down the significance of Governor Oborevwori’s act of responsibility in reducing the debt profile of the State to ensure greater financial stability and sounder economic health.”
Reiterating that Oborevwori was determined to manage Delta into a debt-free State, the statement said the Governor ” has saved over N205 billion through financial efficiency and gone on to reduce the State debt profile by N180 billion. It is these achievements in the financial management of the State that the APC is quarreling with.
“But see why we will not bother about their charade: They want the State to be run the way APC has misrun the national economy since 2015, in which through their reckless borrowings they led Nigeria into servicing its debts hanging with over 97% of its national revenue, and borrowing evermore in the attempt to sustain the economy on borrowed life wire, while actually crashing it. God forbid that to happen in Delta.”
While noting that the APC failed woefully in managing the crude oil production capacity of the nation “which it brought from over two million barrels per day to a low of about one million BPD”, the statement said “a huge chunk of the revenue receipts from even the low output had been devoted to their corruptive importation of petroleum products and payment of fuel subsidy, by which little or nothing was being returned to the federation account.
“The situation was further worsened by its poor fiscal and monetary policies which steadily and increasingly devalued the Naira and posed inflationary difficulties across all sectors and segments of the nation.”
The statement noted that “it can only be shameless pretence, though in line with its usual deceitfulness, for the APC to question why component States of the federation had to source market funds, including loans and bonds, to be able to function effectively in the service of their people.”
Citing the National Bureau of Statistics, it posited that APC States recorded the highest domestic and external debt.
The statement noted that “in the current dispensation, even when the APC federal government and some other States have continued to borrow, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori has decided not only to hem borrowing but also to pay up and reduce inherited loans and interests in order to safeguard the State from the kind of debt service burden that has crippled the nation under the leadership of the APC.
“Such commitment is not only noble, but can only be executed through a deep sense of leadership responsibility and financial prudence as Oborevwori is demonstrating.
“In his 2024 budget appropriation, he was emphatic about keeping the State expenditure within revenue limits, reducing its debt profile and ensuring that the administration does not build new inflationary pressure through extra budgetary funding. In simple terms, his government is averse to borrowing, profligacy and expenditures that are not planned nor budgeted for.”
