Misplaced priority – Obi knocks FG over N39bn for ICC renovation
By Jeffrey Agbo
Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has condemned the misplacement of priorities by the government to favour the rich while the poor die in droves.
Obi, who spoke in Abuja while announcing the facilitation of three projects to the tune of N6 million and some computers in Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, noted that anything done to promote education is not donation but investment.
He berated the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) for spending N39 billion on the renovation of the International Conference Centre (ICC) that was named after President Bola Tinubu in a place where people are dying of not having basic things like food, education and healthcare.
Obi described the renovation of the conference as a wasteful venture and urged the federal government to invest in ventures like education that would be profitable to the youth in future.
The former Anambra State governor donated the sum of N6 million for the sinking of a borehole, provision of solar power and a laboratory in the secondary school where school girls were kidnapped in 2014 by the Boko Haram terrorist group.
According to Obi, “The N39 billion used to renovate the International Conference Centre would have been better used for issues that would benefit the school children who are in dire need of such investment.
“N39 billion would have been used to procure thousands and thousands of computers that would have benefited the schools because the children who are leaders would have benefited from it. They are the leaders of tomorrow.
“As we talk, teachers in the Federal Capital Territory are on strike for three months, protesting months of non-payment of salaries.
“This was one of the things I did when I was the governor of Anambra State, I made it to the extent that students use the computers, 10 students to one computer,” he said.
Obi noted that the donations would have been done in the Chibok community, but was warned that it is a security risk to do so.
“If a section of the country is not safe to visit, the whole country is not safe,” he said.
The facilitator of the donations and an activist for the Chibok girls, Alisha Yesufu, said that the Chibok community got in touch with her soliciting help to improve computer literacy in the school on May 31 this year, and she immediately got in touch with Obi, who quickly obliged.
Leader of the Chibok community who received the 10 laptops and two Laser printers, Dauda Iliya, pledged to ensure that the items are put to use for the benefit of the students.
