The former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, on Friday condemned the approval of N142 billion for the construction of bus terminals across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
In a statement on his social handle, Mr Obi described the federal government’s decision as incompetent and poorly thought out, while pointing to the underfunded health sector as a neglected concern.
Mr Obi stated that the choice for bus terminals was misguided, as N100 billion was allocated for federal teaching hospitals and psychiatric centres in the country’s running budget.
The politician said, “The recent announcement that a sum of ₦142 billion has been approved by the federal government for the construction of one bus terminal in each of our six geopolitical zones further affirms the lack of competence, lack of focus, and poor leadership.
“In the 2024 budget, which is the operational budget today, the entire budget of all the teaching hospitals across all the federal universities in the country, as well as the federal psychiatric centres, is under ₦100 billion, yet the government has approved ₦142 billion for bus terminals.”
Emphasising that the plan to initiate the bus terminals remains tragic, Mr Obi berated the unaddressed state of mental health conditions currently affecting over 20 million Nigerians, as reported by the World Health Organisation.
“This is disturbing, considering that health is one of the most critical areas of development, which is deteriorating and remains grossly underfunded. WHO recently reported that over 20 million Nigerians are living with mental health issues,” he said.
The Minister of Transportation, Sai’du Alkali, had announced the construction of new transportation terminals in Abeokuta (South-West), Gombe (North-East), Kano (North-West), Lokoja (North-Central), Onitsha (South-East), and Edo State (South-South), at an approved sum of N142,028,576,008.17.
The minister stated that the Federal Executive Council’s decision followed reported incidents of crime, road accidents, and illegal arms proliferation, which necessitated the plan.
