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Tinubu irresponsible for offering St Lucia students scholarships while Abuja schools are on strike — Peter Obi 

In a statement issued Wednesday, Obi condemned Tinubu's decision, describing it as a "betrayal of the Nigerian child" and a glaring example of failed leadership.

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Tinubu irresponsible for offering St Lucia students scholarships while Abuja schools are on strike — Peter Obi

 

 

 

 

 

Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, has strongly criticized President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, labeling him “irresponsible” for offering scholarships to students from St. Lucia while public school students in Nigeria’s capital remain out of class due to an ongoing strike.

 

In a statement issued Wednesday, Obi condemned Tinubu’s decision, describing it as a “betrayal of the Nigerian child” and a glaring example of failed leadership.

 

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“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,” Obi said.

 

The Labour Party stalwart questioned the logic of extending educational support to countries with stronger human development indicators, while Nigeria’s own education system continues to crumble under neglect.

 

“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?” Obi queried. “Nigeria has approximately 20 million children out of school, according to UNICEF — the highest number globally.”

 

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Obi pointed to key statistics highlighting Nigeria’s poor development record: a literacy rate below 60%, a life expectancy of 54 years — one of the world’s lowest — and a Human Development Index (HDI) ranking of 161 out of 193 countries. In contrast, he noted, St. Lucia boasts a literacy rate of over 90%, well above the global average.

 

“This is not leadership,” Obi said. “It is negligence at its peak and an act of betrayal.”

 

President Tinubu had, during a recent diplomatic visit to St. Lucia, announced a scholarship initiative for students from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to study in Nigerian universities, beginning in the next academic year.

 

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The announcement comes at a time when Nigeria is grappling with severe economic challenges, widespread poverty, and mounting public frustration over the rising cost of living — consequences many attribute to Tinubu’s sweeping economic reforms.

 

Critics argue that the scholarship initiative is not only ill-timed but indicative of the government’s misplaced priorities.

 

Obi’s statement has since sparked widespread debate across social and political circles, with many Nigerians expressing outrage over the disconnect between the administration’s foreign policy gestures and the realities at home.

 

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