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.”;
