Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has raised serious concerns about the ongoing strike that has kept public primary school pupils in Abuja out of school for over three months.

Obi questioned how a country can ignore the education of its young children and still expect to grow. He warned that this kind of neglect leads to more poverty, insecurity, and slow development.

“When the strike started, most people believed it would only last a few days because it’s in Abuja,” Obi said. “But now, it’s been over three months, and the children are still at home, while leaders are busy fixing roads and buildings.”

In a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account, Obi criticised the government for not resolving the strike. He made it clear that building roads and bridges can never replace the importance of educating people.

According to Obi, education is the most important part of any country’s development. He pointed out that the more educated a population is, the more advanced the nation becomes.

He explained that Nigeria had signed agreements like the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), both of which stress the importance of education. Nigeria also has a law called the Universal Basic Education Act, which guarantees free basic education to all children. Yet, in the nation’s capital, students have been locked out of school for months.

“Many of us thought this strike would be short,” Obi said again. “But now, our kids are still at home while the government focuses on renovating physical structures.”

He added that the real foundation of a strong country is not in roads and buildings, but in the minds of its people. If we fail to educate the next generation, we are only making our problems worse.

Obi called on Nigerian leaders to invest more in people. He said the country needs to focus on basic education, healthcare, and lifting people out of poverty. “That’s how real progress happens,” he concluded. “That’s how we build a better Nigeria.”