Peter Obi, former Anambra State governor and Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, has criticised the Nigerian government for prioritising luxury spending while neglecting critical sectors like education and healthcare.

“I continue to question the kind of country we are building, where our leaders and public servants spend millions on luxury cars and ignore critical areas of development, health, education, and pulling people out of poverty,” Obi said.

He made the statement on Friday during a visit to the Faculty of Dental Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), where he donated N15 million to the Dental Students Association to support laboratory upgrades and efforts to improve the department’s graduation and induction quota as part of its re-accreditation process.

Obi’s intervention followed reports of a similar crisis at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), where dental students are reportedly unable to graduate or be inducted due to quota and accreditation challenges.

While acknowledging that the specifics of the UNICAL case are still unfolding, Obi said the matter reflects deeper systemic failures. “No student should suffer due to what I consider a failure of leadership,” he declared.

“We must give our youth the necessary education, particularly in critical fields like science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).”

He commended the UNICAL Vice Chancellor for pledging to address the issue but urged the Federal Government to step in with institutional and financial support.

“The Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar and her team must be empowered to resolve this issue immediately,” he said.

Drawing from his own experience as governor, Obi recounted how the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria shut down the medical school at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University due to the lack of a teaching hospital.

“Students who had already spent 3 to 4 years studying medicine were told they could only graduate as biologists,” he recalled.

“I had just assumed office, barely one year in, when I met the crisis, but I refused to let those innocent students become victims. I promised to take full responsibility and build a functional teaching hospital in two years. They said it was impossible, but I did it in less than 18 months,” he said, referring to the Odumegwu-Ojukwu Teaching Hospital in Awka.

Obi criticised the continued neglect of education and healthcare in favour of extravagant government projects.

“When we fail to prioritise education, healthcare, and poverty alleviation, but invest billions in conference centres and bus parks, we betray our youth and undermine the future of our dear nation,” he said.

He stressed that Nigerian youth must not continue to be victims of poor governance. “Our children must not continue to lose their future in Nigeria,” he concluded. (BusinessDay)