The 2023 Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi has raised an alarm over Nigeria’s deteriorating education sector, following data made by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).
In a statement posted on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle on Thursday, Obi described the crisis as one of “great magnitude,” urging Nigerian leaders to urgently redirect national priorities away from “misplaced infrastructure spending” towards quality education.
“Our children deserve classrooms, notT abandoned projects,” Obi wrote.
“A nation that neglects its young people has no future.”
Citing recent figures from UBEC, Obi noted that over 20 million Nigerian children remain out of school, with even many of those enrolled unable to read or write, a situation he described as both “scary” and “unacceptable.”
He also pointed to the 2025 WASSCE results released by WAEC, which showed that only 38% of students passed, marking the worst academic performance in five years.
“At a time when education should be our most urgent national priority and most critical investment, we as leaders continue to spend trillions on infrastructures, most of which contribute little or nothing to measurable development indices,” Obi said.
He argued that Nigeria’s failure to invest meaningfully in education was undermining its potential for national growth, innovation, and security.
“Education is the most powerful investment we can make in the future of this nation,” he added.
“To build a stronger, safer, and more prosperous nation, we must invest in our children. When we fail them, we fail our nation.”
Obi called for a holistic rethinking of Nigeria’s developmental agenda, stressing that nation-building cannot happen without human capital development, particularly through access to functional, well-resourced schools.
