The former director of Media and Publicity of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, Bayo Onanuga, has said that the President-elect, Bola Tinubu and his vice, Kashim Shettima, will publicly declare their assets.
Onanuga in an interview with The Punch, said Tinubu will comply with the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB.
He said, “It is a tradition. He will do it. Asiwaju will declare his assets. His Vice President will also do the same. Already, the Code of Conduct Bureau has asked the incoming elected officials to declare their assets before May 29. Tinubu will certainly comply with the law.”
On the rising debt profile of the country, Onanuga said the President-elect has what it takes to tackle the situation.
“Well, what I know is that the president-elect has addressed this issue of debt at various fora in the run-up to the election. Asiwaju, as a ‘finance’ man, believes very strongly that the debt issue can be largely resolved. He had spoken about denominating some of our debt in naira.
“He had spoken about cutting waste in governance to free up resources so that we can give ourselves some financial relief. I believe his administration will be able to find a way to lessen the burden. When he spoke in January at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, he said it clearly that he is not unduly bothered by the ballooning budget deficit, which rose from N2.41tn in 2016 to N11.34tn in the current budget.
“As he told the summit, fiscal deficits are not necessarily bad, as it is an inherent part of modern governance. He said the most powerful and wealthiest governments run deficits, as do the poorest nations.
“The real issue, he said, is whether deficit spending is productive or not. In his words, unproductive deficit spending is a compound negative, especially if backed by excessive borrowing of foreign currency.
“So, I expect his administration to fashion out policies to tackle what some Nigerians consider as the debt burden.”
