Obi to slash cost of governance, reduce borrowing, and save funds
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Peter Obi has pledged that, if elected President, he will replicate in Aso Rock what he did when he was Anambra Governor during which he did not borrow money, he reduced the cost of governance, and made savings for the treasury.
He reiterated the pledge via his official Twitter handle on Monday as part of his address to the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).
“We will work with the CBN to reduce the ‘ways and means’ to what is allowable under the law and for a more transparent and liberalised foreign exchange market,” the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) tweeted, per The PUNCH.
He promised a robust implementation supervised by the Office of the President and to engage Nigeria’s creditors for debt restructuring and possible cancellation.
“We will strive towards a zero-based national budget to overcome the mindset and reality of past non-performing national budgets routinely hampered by budgetary deficit overhangs.
“In addition to the above, all security agencies, EFCC, and ICPC will be strengthened to support our determination to fight and significantly reduce corruption.”
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Obi embraces Nollywood, promises to develop it, in reply to El-Rufai
Obi has also reacted to the dig at him by Kaduna Governor Nasir el-Rufai who called him a Nollywood actor who cannot win the presidential election.
Obi insisted he would work hard to improve the entertainment industry in his riposte on Arise Television.
El-Rufai acknowledged on TVC last that Obi leads in all the scientific opinion polls conducted so far but cast doubt on his national spread.
“He is polling in the Christian enclaves in the North but how many are they? Peter Obi cannot win the election,” El-Rufai said, per The PUNCH.
“He doesn’t have the number of states, he doesn’t have 25 per cent in more than 16 states, the last time we checked. He can’t go anywhere.
“Peter Obi is a Nollywood actor and that’s all he will be. This election is between the APC and the PDP because they have the footprint, they have the spread.
“Ethnicity and religious bigotry will not take you anywhere and that’s what the Labour Party campaign is all about.”
Obi fired back on Arise Television, saying he would focus on Nollywood if elected President and urged actors to support him since El-Rufai has tagged him as one of them.
“I thank El-Rufai for what he said, at least he gave me some percentages; I’ll work hard to improve on that. The entertainment industry is one of the engines that will develop us as a nation, I’ll focus on that and the Nollywood.
“And since he said I’m an actor, I’m calling on all those in the entertainment industry, including the Nollywood, to support me.”
But the Actors Guild of Nigeria demanded a retraction an apology from El-Rufai.
“[His] statement is intended to belittle and demean the intellectual capacity of an actor. Using actors to make sarcastic examples of an unintelligent person is arrogant and condescending of a public office holder,” the Guild said.
“The statement is very offensive and demeaning to the Actors Guild of Nigeria and Nollywood as a whole as it was purely intended to deride the acting profession.”
