Obi slams Tinubu: ‘Revenue targets are meaningless while Nigerians starve’ 

Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has delivered a scathing critique of President Bola Tinubu’s claim that his administration has met Nigeria’s 2025 revenue target ahead of schedule.

In a country where millions are struggling under rising inflation, collapsing businesses, and unpaid pensions, Obi said Tinubu’s celebration of revenue milestones is not only hollow but insulting.

Writing on his verified X handle on Thursday, Obi declared:

“Having met our revenue target for the year ahead of schedule, we should show sensitivity and compassion to the suffering masses by deploying resources to critical areas that will help to create jobs to alleviate the people’s hardships.”

He pointed out that the economic backbone of the country — small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) — is collapsing under government neglect.

“For instance, critical economic players and their associated institutions are undergoing a serious dearth of funds, and their effect is showing in areas they support, like SMEs. Some of them are even protesting as they cannot meet their banks’ and staff needs.”

Obi reserved his sharpest rebuke for the government’s treatment of retirees, including ex-soldiers who once risked their lives for Nigeria. “Why are retired public servants, including service men and women who have risked their lives for the nation, still protesting over unpaid gratuities and pensions?”

He added: “It is shameful that those who built this nation with their sweat, those who defended it with their lives, and those who have fulfilled their contractual obligations are reduced to begging for what is rightfully theirs, even after the government boasts of excess revenue.”

The former governor stressed that revenue numbers are irrelevant when ordinary citizens see no impact in their daily lives. “Achieving revenue targets means nothing if it does not impact the lives of the people, if those who serve and build the nation are left with unpaid entitlements in their difficult years, and those who have genuinely fulfilled their contractual obligations, most of whom are SMEs with one form of debt or the other are still unpaid.”

Calling for urgent reforms, Obi warned that Nigerians cannot continue in despair while leaders gloat over balance sheets. “Our nation must not continue to throw its citizens into debt and despair. It is time for our government to act responsibly and with integrity. A New Nigeria is POssible.”