Peter Obi Raises Alarm Over Nigeria’s Education Crisis, Urges Urgent National Intervention

Peter Obi raises alarm over Nigeria’s worsening education crisis, calling it an emergency of historic scale.

He urges urgent reforms as 20 million children remain out of school and literacy rates plummet.

Former Anambra State Governor and 2023 presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, has decried the worsening state of Nigeria’s education sector, warning that the country is facing an education emergency of historic proportions.

In a strongly worded statement on Thursday, Obi described the situation as a “crisis of immense magnitude” that demands immediate and collective national response. His comments followed a recent report by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), which revealed that more than 20 million Nigerian children are currently out of school, with many more struggling with basic literacy despite being enrolled.

Obi also referenced the latest West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results released by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), which showed that only 38 percent of students passed a result he called “the worst academic performance in five years.”

“These frightening statistics reflect a system in decline,” Obi said. “At a time when education should be our top priority and most strategic national investment, we continue to divert trillions into infrastructure that yields little impact on our human development index.”

He criticized what he termed a misallocation of national resources, lamenting that ongoing renovation and infrastructure projects are being prioritized while schools remain dilapidated and children are left behind.

“Our children deserve classrooms, not abandoned projects,” Obi declared.

He stressed that a functional education system is the cornerstone of national development and urged all levels of government to urgently redirect resources towards building and equipping schools, improving teacher training, and expanding access to quality learning.

“Education is the most powerful investment we can make in our future,” he said. “A nation that neglects its young people has no future. If we fail our children, we have failed our nation.”