Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, recently stated that Nigeria is “basically bankrupt” and urged the Federal Government to implement much-needed structural reforms to ensure the country’s economic growth.
During an interview on Politics Today, a Channels Television program, on Thursday evening, Obaseki criticized the way Nigeria’s finances are managed. He pointed out that the government is not making enough money to meet its expenses, and there’s no control over how funds are spent. This, he said, is a major issue contributing to the nation’s economic struggles.
He said;
“Nigeria is technically bankrupt. And I mean it. When you are bankrupt anywhere in the world, like in the United States, you file for what they call Chapter Eleven. You restructure your affairs so that you can reorganise and meet your obligations. Nigeria is not restructuring in that sense; it still behaves as if it had money like it used to.
“It (Nigeria) has been in trouble for a while. I won’t say insolvent, but technically so, in the sense that we don’t have enough to cover our expenditure, we are not reducing our expenditure, and we are not earning more.
“First, the Federal Government does not have the capacity to manage the economy at the scale and in the way it is currently doing. You’re producing 1.3 million barrels of oil, right? Because you are trying to do it centrally. We have 147 oil wells in Edo, and only 53 or fewer are producing.
“Unless you create a new design that allows the individual states to take advantage of the economic opportunities they have, stressing the assets of this country and paying what they need to pay to the central government, the federal government cannot sit and try to micromanage the country and its assets. It has shown that it cannot. It doesn’t have the capacity to do so.
“I think for me, it’s like this federal government is stuck, and stuck in the past. Because you cannot resolve a malignant problem using the same tools you have used over the years.
“It’s not that the people there are not smart; it’s not that they’re stupid. It’s more that they just don’t have the courage to make the decisions they need to make.
“The problem with Nigeria today is structural. The structure we have is expired; it’s outdated. We need a new structure to run the economy of the state. If it doesn’t happen, we are not going anywhere,”
Obaseki further explained that the country needs to decentralize its resource management. He believes states should be allowed to manage their economic opportunities independently rather than relying on a central authority for everything. According to him, the Federal Government is “stuck in the past” and must adopt a new structure that will better manage the nation’s economy and encourage development.
By making these changes, Obaseki believes Nigeria can move towards better financial stability and unlock the potential of its states.
