Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, has strongly criticised the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, over the prolonged strike by public primary school teachers in Abuja, which has left pupils out of classrooms for over three months.
Speaking out via his verified X (formerly Twitter) handle on Thursday, Obi described the federal government’s failure to resolve the strike as a dangerous neglect of national priorities. He warned that any country that sidelines the education of its children is unwittingly steering itself towards poverty, insecurity, and long-term underdevelopment.
“When the strike began, we all thought, ‘This is Abuja; it will only last for a day or two.’ But here we are, three months later, our children are still at home and we are busy renovating the infrastructure,” Obi lamented.
He stressed that while physical infrastructure may be necessary, it cannot substitute for human capital development through quality education.
Obi’s remarks came in response to growing public outrage over the industrial action, which has seen primary schools in the Federal Capital shut down indefinitely due to disputes over unpaid minimum wage, withheld salaries, and non-payment of a 40% peculiar allowance for workers in the area councils.
He cited global data underscoring the critical role of education in a country’s development, insisting that nations that thrive are those that prioritize educating their population.
“The most critical and immeasurable component of human development today is education. It is a known and verifiable study that the more educated a nation is, the more developed it is,” Obi said.
He reminded the public that Nigeria is not only a signatory to international frameworks like the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—both of which emphasise education—but also has laws like the Universal Basic Education Act that guarantee children the right to free and quality education.
“The foundation of societal development is an educated citizenry, not physical infrastructure,” he stated. “True development is about building people. It is about educating the next generation.”
Obi called for urgent intervention by the federal government and the FCT administration to resolve the strike, restore learning in schools, and begin treating education as the national emergency that it is.
“A nation that ignores its children’s education is digging deeper into poverty, insecurity, and underdevelopment,” he warned.
Obi’s comments echo earlier protests led by social activist Verydarkman, who joined pupils in a demonstration to call attention to the government’s silence and inaction on the matter. The continued strike has affected thousands of schoolchildren across the six area councils in the FCT.
