AWKA—Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Peter Obi has insisted that the statistical data he reeled out during the Saturday December 15 Vice Presidential debate were accurate, as he obtained them from competent sources.

Obi has been greeted with outright criticism from some Nigerians, who claimed that most of the statistical data he reeled out during the debate were not correct and overblown in most cases.

Obi’s Media Adviser, Mr. Valentine Obienyem, in a statement yesterday, called on Nigerians to disregard those going about debunking, as  incorrect, the data used by the former Governor of Anambra State to support his points during the 2018 Vice Presidential debate.

Obienyem said that 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.”

In the statement made available to journalists, Obienyem  itemised all 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.

Part of the statement read: “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. 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 capitalization was USD900 billion. This can be verified from Stock Market Clock (https://www.stockmarketclock.com/exchanges/jse). Obi   said that Nigerian bank loans is made up of 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 six 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 from  https://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).

Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/12/vp-debate-obi-insists-on-statistical-data-provides-sources/amp/