Amid ongoing strike and educational setbacks in Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu during his visit to Saint Lucia, extended scholarships to students there. This is happening at a time when public schools in Nigeria’s capital Abuja remain shut, and the country holds the global record for the highest number of out-of-school children.
In a scathing criticism posted on his social media handle, 2023 presidential candidate for the Labour Party and former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, condemned the president’s recent scholarship gesture as “negligence at its peak” and a “betrayal against the Nigerian child.” Peter Obi stressed that this action exemplifies the long-standing leadership failure that has stalled Nigeria’s development.
“It is heartbreaking that our President, who is the leader of a country with the highest number of out-of-school children in the world and with students in the capital 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,” Peter Obi wrote.
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According to UNICEF, Nigeria has approximately 20 million out-of-school children, the highest globally, with a literacy rate below 60%, far below the global average of 87%. Public education in the Federal Capital Territory has been on hold for months due to unpaid salaries and neglected school infrastructure, yet no emergency intervention has been prioritized by the presidency.
Meanwhile, St. Lucia, a Caribbean island nation, boasts a literacy rate of over 90%, a life expectancy of 72 years, and is ranked in the “High Category” on the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI). In contrast, Nigeria sits at 161 out of 193 countries, falling into the “Low Category.”
“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?” Peter Obi questioned.
This move, shows that the president “knows how important education is”—but appears unwilling to prioritize it for Nigerian children.
As the country battles an education crisis, with unpaid teachers, decaying infrastructure, and mass illiteracy, Peter Obi called for a national reawakening.
“We must, as a nation, reject these continued normalisations of misplaced priorities and build a better nation for us and our children. A New Nigeria is POssible.”
