Former presidential candidate and ex-Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, says the basic problem with Nigeria is leadership failure.
Obi wrote on his X account, “It is heart-breaking that our president, who is the leader of a country with the highest number of out of school children in the world and with the students in the capital of his own nation, Abuja, presently not attending schools, would travel to St. Lucia and offer scholarships to children there, while his own country’s education system is in ruins, and even currently his nation’s capital, the Federal Capital Territory, the supposed seat of governance, have public schools shut down and closed for months.”
According to Obi, “This is not leadership; it is negligence at its peak. It is an act of betrayal against the Nigerian child.
“Nigeria has approximately 20 million children out of school, according to UNICEF, the highest number globally, with a literacy rate of under 60 per cent, far below the global average of 87 per cent.
“Similarly, the life expectancy stands at a mere 54 years, out of the global average measurement of above 70 years, one of the lowest in the world.”
On Human Development Index (HDI), which is the most critical measure of development, Obi said, “Nigeria is ranked in the ‘Low Category’ at 161 out of 193 countries measured, while St. Lucia, a Caribbean nation, has a literacy rate of over 90 per cent, which is above the global average of 87 per cent. She has a life expectancy of more than 72 years, which is within the global average,” while Nigeria is in the low category.
The presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) in the last general election, said, “So tell me, what sense does it make that a president of a country with such terrible and dire statistics would travel to a country with better indexes of development, especially in education, and still offer them scholarships funded by Nigerian taxpayers, when Nigeria children are largely out of school and the teachers not yet paid for months?
“Mr. President, by offering St Lucia students a scholarship, shows he knows how important education is, while depriving Nigerian students of the same access to education.
“We must, as a nation, reject these continued normalisations of misplaced priorities and build a better nation for us and our children.”
Chuks Okocha
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