The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in last year’s general election, Mr. Peter Obi, has criticised the Federal Government for allocating N1 billion for the construction of hostels in 12 tertiary institutions.
He described the government’s action as financial recklessness and misplacement of priorities in the allocation of funds.
In a statement by the spokesman of Peter Obi Media Reach, Yunusa Tanko, the LP stalwart described as unacceptable the continued deployment of public resources to nonessential areas of development.
He highlighted what he called the poor and embarrassing position of Nigeria in the global average in school enrollment.
Obi alleged that despite the poor standing, the government was “budgeting a paltry N1 billion for the construction of hostels in 12 tertiary institutions in Nigeria while N10 billion is going for the building of car parks and recreational facilities”.
In a post on his X (formerly twitter) handle, the former Anambra State governor said: “As the giant of Africa, which we are, I remain concerned about our fiscal indiscipline as a nation.
“Imagine the situation in our Education sector where the global average of secondary school enrollment is above 80 per cent, while Nigeria is 28 per cent.
“The global Average of Tertiary School enrollment is above 55 per cent, while Nigeria is less than 15 per cent.
“Yet, our budget for the National Assembly Car Parks is N6 billion. The budget for the National Assembly Recreational Facilities is N4 billion.
“Approved for the Construction of Hostels in 12 tertiary institutions is just N1 billion. It is time for us to stop this financial indiscipline and embrace financial discipline by prioritising the allocation of resources to the critical areas of human and national development”.
An aide to the President on Information, who craved anonymity, said the former Anambra State governor got his facts wrong.
He said the government planned to spend N12 billion (N1 billion each) as special intervention for the provision of hostels in the selected higher institutions.
The aide said: “Playing an opposition goes beyond dancing to the gallery. How can someone who aspired to be president be amplifying and elevating falsehoods. It is not compulsory that he must comment on every policy, especially on the one he has little or no knowledge about”.
