Addressing newsmen in Abuja recently, the former Director General of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) suggested to INEC not to deploy staff used in the last Governorship/House of Assembly election to states where supplementary elections will hold on April 25th. Adjudging the management system of the last general elections as an improvement of previous elections in the country since 1999, the APC leader however, observed that gaps were witnessed in the last election, hence the call for an urgent review of the process.
According to him, “we have seen imperfect elections in this country, where counting is being done and results are already being declared. The last election is not one of those elections. I believe we have made some progress in our electoral management system. I believe very strongly the gap we are witnessing has to do with the conduct of a number of us politicians. I want to use this opportunity to call on INEC, to as a matter of urgency initiate review of how the 2023 elections were managed. INEC must address issues of ethical conduct of their staff, including the Returning Officers.
Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) at the weekend revealed that in the fourth quarter of 2022, Nigeria’s domestic and external debt profile hit N46.25 trillion.
It rose by 4.96% from the N44.06 trillion of the preceding quarter, according to the bureau in its document titled: “Nigeria’s Public and Domestic Debt (Q42022).
NBS said: “Nigeria’s public debt stock which includes external and domestic debt stood at N46.25 trillion (US$103.11 billion) in Q4 2022 from N44.06 trillion (US$ 101.91 Billion) in q3 2022.
This shows that public debt (in national currency) grew by 4.96% in 4Q 2022”.
