Peter Obi: Abuja IDP Camp With 4,000 Residents Lacks Primary School for Children
Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s student loan scheme, arguing that the administration is neglecting critical areas in education that require urgent intervention.
Speaking on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme on Tuesday, April 1, 2024, Obi dismissed the presidency’s claims that its investment in education and other reforms is yielding positive results, stating that the impact is neither visible nor felt across the country.
The former Anambra State governor cited his visit to an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Abuja, where he found that a settlement of over 4,000 displaced persons lacked a primary school for children.
He faulted the president’s student loan scheme, saying the funds earmarked for interest-free loans for students in higher education should be channelled to critical areas to build schools for out-of-school children.
Obi questioned the government’s claim about reforms and improvement, saying the Abuja IDP camp he visited has no school nor a primary health facility.
He said, “This country has Universal Basic Education and we have over 20 million children out of school, that’s the critical area. It is the basic education that is critical area, we are not doing anything on it.
“Today, I visited an IDP camp, there are over 40,000 people in IDP around Abuja. In this particular IDP, there 4,000 people, they don’t have a primary healthcare, they don’t have a primary school.”
“They used to have a primary school which was build by UNICEF but it’s been closed down for three years. The kids are there, there’s no primary school, no healthcare.
“So if you don’t have it in Abuja where do you have it? And this is the one you say is free and compulsory. So, where are you investing the money? “