Mr. Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State and presidential hopeful on the platform of PDP, has remarked that it’s embarrassing for political office holders to be campaigning for elective offices ahead of the 2023 election while universities are closed.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities have been on strike in Nigeria.
Obi said this on Wednesday while responding to a question from a student when he appeared at a popular Abuja-based human rights Radio and Television station, Berekete Family.
He noted that the money realised from the sale of nomination forms of political parties was enough to meet some of the demands of ASUU.
Obi said he found it disheartening that the noise of 2023 was dominating the space rather than the plight of Nigerian students wasting at home and being exposed to all kinds of danger.
“The N40m and N100m that is being collected for forms from presidential aspirants from the two leading political parties is enough to meet some demands of ASUU,” he said.
“The genesis of the ASUU strike is in the inability of the government to keep agreements and that stems from the value we place on education which should be the biggest investment.”
The former governor promised that if he is elected President, he would make Nigeria a producing nation because that is the only way to have a strong and viable economy.
“If elected, I will start by cutting off excess wastages that are prevalent in the system as I did when I was governor of Anambra state and was able to achieve much without owing and having more to invest,” he said.
On security, he noted that most of the bandits and gunmen could not have been in the crime if the government had provided for them.