The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi has criticised the President Bola Tinubu-led administration for approval of N8,000 as palliative to about 12 million households over the period of six months to ameliorate the hardships faced by Nigerians as a result of subsidy removal.
Obi who spoke on Saturday at an event in Abuja, said almost every family in Nigeria are vulnerable and are feeling the pains of the fuel subsidy removal.
He stressed that N8000 to 12 million households was not enough to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal, insisting that almost every parent need the money across the because of the level of poverty in the nation.
He said: “I was telling my people to find a way how to enrol for this N8,000 because almost everyone needs it; both parents and teachers need the 8,000.”
While speaking on the importance of education in any nation, Obi described as alarming the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) report that more than 20 million school-age children in Nigeria are out of school, saying there was no way there could be meaningful development when such huge number of children have no access to education.
“If you follow the 2022 World population of counties we are talking about the population of Norway, Ireland, Singapore and Dubai put together that is out of school in Nigeria.
“When you put together the population of these four successful countries together, it will be over 19 million and we have 20 million out of school.
“So, we have the population of the four thriving, successful, developed countries put together that out of school in Nigeria, so how can you talk about development in the future? So, investment in education is critical,” he said.
