Peter Obi, former Anambra governor and presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has criticised President Bola Tinubu for offering scholarships to students in Saint Lucia, while millions of Nigerian children remain out of school.
In a statement shared via his verified X account on Tuesday, Obi described the president’s gesture as “negligence at its peak” and “a betrayal against the Nigerian child.”
Obi said it was unacceptable for the leader of a country with the highest number of out-of-school children in the world to prioritise foreign students over the education crisis at home.
His words: “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 the students in the capital of his own nation, 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.
“This is not leadership, it is negligence at its peak. It is an act of betrayal against the Nigerian child.”
The former governor cited recent statistics to back his claim, stating that Nigeria has about 20 million children out of school, a literacy rate below 60 percent — far beneath the global average of 87 percent — and a life expectancy of just 54 years.
On the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI), Nigeria ranks 161 out of 193 countries, placing it in the “low development” category.
“In contrast,” Obi noted, “St. Lucia, a Caribbean country, has a literacy rate above 90%, life expectancy of more than 72 years, and ranks in the ‘high development’ category on the HDI.”
He questioned the rationale behind offering scholarships to citizens of a country that fares better than Nigeria on key development indicators.
“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 Nigerian children are largely out of school and teachers have not been paid for months?” he asked.
Obi said the president’s action shows that he understands the importance of education, but is unwilling to prioritise it for his citizens.
“Mr. President, by offering St. Lucia students a scholarship, you show that you know how important education is, while depriving Nigerian students of the same access.”
He called on Nigerians to resist what he described as a “normalisation of misplaced priorities,” and urged a renewed focus on governance that puts Nigerians first.
“We must, as a nation, reject these continued normalisations of misplaced priorities and build a better nation for us and our children,” he added.
