Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, has decried the locking out of public primary school pupils in Abuja from school for over three months due to an unresolved strike.
Obi warned that a nation that ignores its children’s
education is digging deeper into poverty, insecurity, and underdevelopment.
“When the strike began, we all thought, ‘This is Abuja; it will
only last for a day or two.’ But here we are, three months later, our children
are still at home and we are busy renovating the infrastructure,” Obi said.
In a post on his X handle on Thursday, the former Anambra
State Governor criticised the government’s failure to resolve the lingering
industrial action, noting that physical infrastructure is not a substitute for
an educated population.
Obi further stressed that education remains the most
critical and immeasurable component of human development, citing global data
linking higher educational attainment to greater national development.
The statement reads: “The most critical and immeasurable
component of human development today is Education. It is a known and verifiable
study that the more educated a nation is, the more developed it is.
Consequently, the most important investment and policy a nation requires is
educating its people, especially children, to secure their future.
“Nigeria was not only a signatory to the Millennium
Development Goals (MDG) and Sustainable Development Goals, which emphatically
emphasised education as a critical development yardstick, but also has as law
Universal Basic Education, which means every child should have access to
quality basic education. Yet, right here in Abuja, the Federal Capital
Territory, public primary school pupils have been out of school for over three
months due to a strike.
“When the strike began, we all thought, ‘This is Abuja; it
will only last for a day or two.’ But here we are, three months later, our
children are still at home and we are busy renovating the infrastructure.
“The foundation of societal development is an educated
citizenry, not physical infrastructure. True development is about building
people. It is about educating the next generation. A nation that ignores its
children’s education is digging deeper into poverty, insecurity, and
underdevelopment.
“We must prioritise investment in human capital, especially
in basic education, healthcare, and pulling people out of poverty. That is how
nations grow. That is how we build the New Nigeria that is possible.”
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