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…Says N39b for ICC renovations is a misplaced priority
By Jude Opara, Abuja
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has described the spending of N39 billion Naira for the renovation of the International Conference Center (ICC) as a misplacement of priorities by the government to favour the rich while the poor are dying in their numbers.
Obi, who spoke in Abuja on Wednesday while announcing the facilitation of three projects, to the tune of over N6m plus some computers to the Girls Secondary school, Chibok, Borno state, stated that any effort to promote education is not donation but investment.
He took a swipe at the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) for spending N39 billion on the renovation of the ICC which was also renamed after President Bola Tinubu while people are dying of not having basic necessities like food, education and healthcare.
The former governor of Anambra state who insisted that the renovation would as a wasteful venture, urged the federal government to always prioritize things like education that would be profitable to the youth in future.
Obi donated the sum of N6 million for the sinking of a borehole, provision of solar and a laboratory in the secondary school where school girls were kidnapped in 2014 by the dreaded Boko Haram terrorist group.
“FCTA could afford to claim that it renovated a structure that is in good shape with N39 billion”.
According to Obi, ‘’ the N39 billion used to renovate the International Conference Centre would have been better used on 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 the leaders of tomorrow would have benefited from it.
‘’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.
He said that the donations would have been done in the Chibok community, but was warned that it is security risky to do so because of the security situation in the area.
“If a section of the country is not safe to visit, the whole country is not safe.”
The facilitator of the donations, and an activist for the free Chibok girls, Mrs. Alisha Yusufu, 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 accepted.
Receiving the 10 laptops, two Laser printers, leader of the Chiboku community, Dauda Iliya pledged to ensure that the items were put to use for the maximum benefit of the students.
