Peter Obi, the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate and former governor of Anambra State, has delivered a scathing rebuke of President Bola Tinubu’s leadership, calling his recent actions a betrayal of Nigerian children and a heartbreaking example of misplaced priorities.
Obi, visibly disappointed, condemned the closure of public schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where thousands of children have been out of school for nearly three months due to an unresolved dispute between teachers and local council chairmen over the implementation of the ₦70,000 minimum wage and other unmet demands.
In a statement shared on Wednesday, Obi questioned how the same President who allowed Nigerian children in the heart of the nation’s capital to remain locked out of classrooms could travel to St. Lucia — a small Caribbean nation — and offer scholarships to students there. “This is not leadership,” Obi said. “It is negligence at its peak. It is an act of betrayal against the Nigerian child.”
Obi went further, highlighting the contradiction in President Tinubu’s gesture. “Our President is leading a country with the highest number of out-of-school children in the world, according to UNICEF — nearly 20 million. Yet he’s offering scholarships to countries that have literacy rates above 90%, while ours is under 60%.”
The former governor lamented that Nigeria’s Human Development Index (HDI) ranking remains alarmingly low, with the country placed 161 out of 193 globally, and life expectancy at a dismal 54 years — far below the global average of over 70. In contrast, St. Lucia enjoys a high HDI ranking, better healthcare, and a stable education system.
“So tell me,” Obi asked, “what sense does it make for the president of a struggling country, where education is in crisis, to offer scholarships abroad while his own teachers are not paid, and children have no access to learning?”
He didn’t stop there.
Obi accused President Tinubu of knowing the value of education — as evidenced by his decision to award foreign scholarships — but ignoring the same principle at home. “By giving scholarships to St. Lucia students, he proves that he understands the value of education. So why deprive Nigerian children of it?”
Obi’s message is not just political — it’s deeply personal and national. He called on Nigerians to reject what he termed the “continued normalization of misplaced priorities” and to demand a government that puts its own children first.
“As a nation, we cannot keep sacrificing our future at the altar of optics and political showmanship,” Obi said. “We must start building a country that values its people — especially its young people — and gives them the dignity and education they deserve.”
In a country already grappling with poverty, insecurity, and rising hopelessness, Obi’s words hit home for many. For parents watching their children sit idle at home while seeing scholarships handed to others abroad, the question is painfully simple: who is speaking for the Nigerian child?
