The governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, has said that Nigeria is technically bankrupt and must restructure to meet its financial obligations.
The governor, who spoke in an interview with Channels Television on Thursday, said the federal government can no longer put a band-aid on the economy.
According to him; “Nigeria is technically bankrupt. When you’re bankrupt anywhere in the world, like in The United States of America (USA), you file for what we call Chapter 11. You restructure your affairs so that you can reorganize and be able to meet obligations.
“Nigeria is not restructuring its affairs. It’s still behaving as if it has money like it used to. It’s been in trouble for a while. I won’t say insolvent, I will say technically we don’t have enough to cover our expenditures and we are not reducing our expenditures and we are not earning more.
“It’s a total redesign. First, the federal government can no longer manage the economy on the way and scale it is doing today.
“We are producing 1.3 million barrels of oil because you are trying to do it centrally.
“We have 137 oil wells in Edo State, only 53 or less are producing. We need to create a new design where you have the component parts of this country take advantage of the economic opportunities that they have and pay what they need to the federal government.
”This federal government is stuck in the past. You cannot resolve malignant problems using the same tools you have used through the years.
“It is not that the people there are not smart or stupid. It is just that they don’t dare to make some of the decisions that need to be made.
“The problem of Nigeria today is structural. The structure has expired.”
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