We’ll work with Tinubu to clear Nigeria’s debt – Akpabio

A former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has said the 10th Senate will work closely with the incoming administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu to clear Nigeria’s debts.

The outgoing administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has been accused of piling up debts.

Akpabio, who until 2022 was a minister under Buhari, said the country’s current debt crisis was regrettable.

Speaking when he met with the Forum of Former Senators in Abuja on Tuesday, the former minister, who has been endorsed by APC for Senate presidency, pledged that Tinubu’s administration would work hard to increase the internally generated revenue in collaboration with the National Assembly.

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He said, “Nigeria has the problem of insecurity, economy and even indebtedness. We must do everything possible to save the future of our children.

“This country can generate its own IGR. We can pay all the debts we owe as a nation with creative and innovative ideas.”

Akpabio pledged to make the 10th Senate, the parliament that would work for the good of all Nigerians regardless of the political, religious or ethnic background.

The convener of the forum, Senator Basheer Lado, said they backed Akpabio to strike a religious balance in the composition of the 10th National Assembly leadership.

He therefore urged other aspirants to step down and support Akpabio.

He said, “Our support for the candidature of Senator Godswill Akpabio from the South as Senate President and Senator Barau Jibrin from the North as Deputy Senate President indeed is to strike the needed political balance, ethnicity and religious diversity of Nigeria as one indivisible nation.

“We therefore respectfully, once again, appeal to other aspirants to step down their ambition in the interest of national unity, peace, stability of Nigeria and party cohesion.”