The former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi has lambasted President Bola Tinubu for awarding scholarships to childeren in Saint Lucia, while the public schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the supposed seat of governance, have been shut down for months, due to nonpayment of teachers.
Mr. Obi, in a post on his X handle on Wednesday noted that it was heartbreaking that President Tinubu, who is the leader of a country with the highest number of out of school children in the world, is offering scholarships in foreign land while his own country’s education system is in ruins.
“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% far below the global average of 87%.
“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, 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% which is above the global average of 87%.
“In life expectancy of more than 72 years, which is within the global average. On HDI which Nigeria is in the Low category, they air in the “High Category” 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,” Obi wrote on his X handle.
