Peter Obi criticises Tinubu’s govt says no visible impact after 2-year

Peter Obi, the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, has once again taken a swipe at President Bola Tinubu’s administration, accusing it of failing to deliver on key promises.

Speaking on Arise Television’s Prime Time program on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, Obi argued that nearly two years into Tinubu’s tenure, Nigerians have seen little to no positive change.

The former Anambra State governor insisted that if he were president, he would have brought visible improvements in critical sectors, particularly in tackling corruption and reducing the cost of governance. According to Obi, “The President that is there today has spent two years, and you can see where we are. If I was there, you would have seen a considerable change in critical areas.”

He criticized the government’s spending priorities, pointing out that while Nigeria struggles with an inefficient healthcare system, huge sums are allocated to non-essential projects. “Our primary healthcare today—70 percent of it—is not functional, yet we spent over N35 billion on a conference centre. Who is coming for the conference?” he asked. Obi argued that borrowed funds should be directed toward essential sectors rather than non-impactful projects.

Using Bangladesh as an example, he lamented Nigeria’s poor agricultural productivity, saying the country should leverage its vast land to become a major rice producer. “Bangladesh, with just 148,000 km² of land, produces about 60 million metric tons of rice, while Nigeria, with over six times that land size, can’t produce 10 percent of that,” he said.

While agreeing with Tinubu’s decision to devalue the naira, Obi faulted the approach, stating that a well-organized currency float should be tied to increased productivity. “There’s nothing wrong with devaluation, but I would have allowed the naira to float in an organized manner,” he said, adding that floating a currency without productivity would only worsen economic hardship.