Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, Mr Peter Obi, has decried poor investment in education, saying government’s failure to prioritise education is responsible for the current development setbacks in the country.
The former Anambra State governor said this yesterday when he visited a private science college owned by a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Obimma, St. John Vianney Science College, Ukwulu, Dunukofia local government area of Anambra State.
Students of the college won an international debate tagged, “Inaugural UK- Nigeria Debate Championship” about three weeks ago.
Addressing the management and students of the college, Obi said the purpose of his visit was simply to congratulate them for recording the academic feat and to urge them to keep the flag flying higher.
He praised the proprietor of the college and founder of the popular Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry, Uke, Idemili-South local government area of Anambra State, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Obimma, popularly known as “Ebube Monso”, other management members and teachers of the college for the quality of education being impacted in the students.
He particularly praised the proprietor for founding the school, stressing that by establishing the college, he has made the greatest investment for humanity.
He also urged the students not to joke with their education saying, “education opens doors for you.”
Obi donated N10 million in support of the management of the college, promising the students that he would find time to visit and eat with them in their refectory.
He told them that he had been privileged to sit on the same table with several notable leaders both within and outside the country including Europe and America because he acquired education. He charged the students that they stand to enjoy similar privileges if they are properly educated.
He told the students that he started his education career at Santa Maria school in Onitsha where he used to climb a mango tree there but that today, he has attained high education standards, urging them that he is even an alumnus of two most globally rated institutions – Cambridge and Oxford Universities.
Obi said that had government in the country prioritised investment in education than relying in oil revenue, and indulging in celebrations with the oil revenue, the country would have not been experiencing the development challenges it is currently passing through.
He said, for instance, that the nation’s power challenges persist because of lack of engineers who have the technical knowledge on how to address it, hence the country has been relying on foreign engineering experts to solve the power sector issues.
Expressing his gratitude to Obi for the visit and support, the proprietor of the college praised him for his investment in the education sector when he was governor of Anambra State saying that the principal of the college is one of the students that the Obi administration awarded scholarship to further education abroad for making first class in her degree programme.
Rev. Fr. Obimma declared that God would one day make Obi president of the nation.
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