The statistics Obi ‘got right’ at TV debate

December 17, 2018 11:15 pm

Pic.48. From left: Peter Obi of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Yemi Osinbajo of All Progressives Congress (APC), during the 2018 Vice Presidential Debate organise by Nigeria Election Debates Group in Abuja on Friday (14/12/18) 06667/14/12/2018/Hogan Bassey/BJO/NAN

Peter Obi, the vice-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), got most of his facts right at the TV debate on Friday, according to Valentine Obienyem, his media aide.

Obi came under intense scrutiny for the statistics he reeled out at the debate, which fact checkers disputing most of his claims.

But in a press statement issued on Monday and shared with TheCable, Obienyem said engaging in what he called “statistical fallacy” was a mark of persons without honour and insisted that Obi did not do so during the debate as “the sources of all the facts and statistics he put forward could easily be verified”.

He itemised the points that Obi made during the debate and gave the source of Obi’s data, which he challenged those doubting their authenticity to verify.

THE VERIFIED FACTS

“During the debate, Obi said that Nigeria used over 50% of her revenue to service debt. This can be verified from DMO’s 2017 reports on Nigeria’s debt stock and total debt service. Obi said the country’s total debt stock was N22.7 trillion, about USD80 billion. This can be verified from DMO’s June 2018 report on Nigeria’s debt stock,” Obienyem wrote.

“Obi said that Mexico’s GDP was over USD1 trillion and its GDP per capita was over USD8,000. This can be verified from World Bank report on: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD?locations=MX&view=chart.

“Obi said that South Africa’s stock market capitalisation was USD900 billion. This can be verified from Stock Market Clock (https://www.stockmarketclock.com/exchanges/jse). Obi said that Nigerian bank loans made up 15% of GDP. This can be verified from the World Bank (source: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/FD.AST.PRVT.GD.ZS?locations=NG&view=chart).

“Obi said that Nigeria had the highest number of the poor at 87 million – growing by 6 persons per minute. This can be verified from Brookings Institute publication, “The start of a new poverty narrative” published by Homi Kharas, Kristofer Hamel, and Martin Hofer on Tuesday, June 19, 2018 (source: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2018/06/19/the-start-of-a-new-poverty-narrative/).

“Obi said that Nigeria’s Human Development Index (HDI) ranking moved from 152 – 157. This can be verified from http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2018_human_development_statistical_update.pdf. Obi said that the Misery Index in Nigeria worsened. This can be verified from https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/hankes-annual-misery-index-worlds-saddest-happiest-countries.

“Obi said that the FG budgeted N340 billion on health and paid over N1 trillion on PMS subsidy. Education budget was about N400 billion. This can be verified fromhttps://punchng.com/subsidy-on-petrol-hits-n1-4tn-per-year-says-fg/. Obi said that the ease of doing business ranking was currently at 146. This can be verified from http://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/doingBusiness/media/Annual-Reports/English/DB2019-report_web-version.pdf).

“Obi said that China created 7.2 million jobs within first 6 months in 2018. This can be verified from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201809/17/WS5b9f2aeda31033b4f46566bb.html/. Obi said that Nigeria’s 4,000 MW electricity generation was too low. This can be verified from https://www.nigeriaelectricityhub.com/2018/12/04/electricity-market-generates-4176mw/”