By Jude Opara
The Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi on Thursday named education and healthcare as the bedrock upon which every prosperous nation is built.
Obi who was releasing his Part 2 of the ‘Roadmap to a New Nigeria’ wrote on his X handle that education and healthcare remain the foundation of a renewed Nigeria
He said; “Recall that on July 1st, in Part 1 of my Vision for a Productive and Prosperous Nigeria, I outlined the broad framework of my proposed roadmap for national renewal. In it, I emphasised that the transformation of Nigeria must begin with rebuilding our human capital through quality education and healthcare, supported by reforms in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), character and civic education, and strategic investments that will move our nation from a consumption-driven economy to a production-driven one. I promised to follow up with other parts in the coming weeks and months.
“Today, July 16th, in the middle of July, I wish to expand on these two critical pillars – education and healthcare – because they are the bedrock upon which every prosperous nation is built. They are the cornerstones of the foundation that will ensure that a son of nobody can become somebody and remove many from the ranks of the disaffected who often become tools in the insecurity challenges confronting us.
“Evidence from around the world shows that quality education and accessible healthcare are among the clearest distinctions between thriving nations and lagging ones. Princeton University Nobel Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton highlights this reality in his book, The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality”.
The former governor of Anambra state also rubbished the insinuations among some youths that education is a scam, warning that no nation can truly develop without a sound educational system and quality healthcare.
“Nothing, therefore, could be further from the truth than the claim by some young people that education is a scam. Education, when combined with good health, provides the ladder for individual upward mobility and drives economic growth for the nation.
“We must become more intentional about aligning education with our national priorities, as Singapore did, and challenge our country to value education in the same way Deng Xiaoping repeatedly urged China to do from 1978 onwards, with the remarkable transformation we see today.
“We will work through commissions that strengthen collaboration among the tiers of government, ensuring that primary education is domiciled at the community and local government levels, with strong parental involvement and curricula that are sensitive to local economic factor endowments and the value chains derived from them”.
Obi assured that if elected, state governments will be supported to expand high-quality Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), as well as general secondary education, through targeted grants and incentives.
