The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, has described the renovation of the International Conference Centre (ICC) renamed after ‘Bola Tinubu’ as complete misplacement of priorities by the federal government to favour the rich against the majority poor who are dying in droves.
Obi, particularly question the rationale behind spending such a humongous N39 billion on the renovation of the International Conference Centre (ICC), in a place where people are dying of not having basic things life such as food, education and healthcare.
He therefore advised the federal government to always invest in ventures like education that would be profitable to the youth in future.
The former governor of Anambra State, who stated these in Abuja on Wednesday, while announcing the facilitation of three projects, to the tune of N6 million, including donation of computers to Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, stressed that “anything done to promote education is not donation but an investment”.
Obi donated N6 million for the sinking of a borehole, provision of solar and laboratory facilities in the secondary school where female students were abducted in 2014 by Boko Haram terrorist group.
A statement by Ibrahim Umar, Spokesperson of the POMR, quoted Mr Obi as having described the renovation of the conference as “a wasteful venture”.
In the words of Obi; “FCTA could afford to claim that it renovated a structure that is in good shape with N39 billion. It is wasteful and misplacement of government priority. There are schools in the country where such funds should have been invested for the welfare and educational benefits of children.
“The N39 billion used to renovate the international Conference Centre would have been put to better uses, to projects that would benefit 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 schools because the children who are leaders would have benefited from it. They are the leaders of tomorrow.
“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, ten students to one computer,” he said.
The 2023 LP Presidential candidate said that the donations he made would have been done right there at the Chibok community, but he was warned that it is too risky to do so because of the security situation in the area.
According to him; “If a section of the country is not safe to visit, the whole country is not safe,” he emphasised.
The facilitator of the donations, and an activist for “Free Chibok Girls”, Mrs Aisha Yusufu, said that the Chibok community got in touch with her, soliciting for help to improve computer literacy in the school on May 31, this year, and she immediately got in touch with Obi, who quickly obliged.
Mallam Dauda Iliya, who is the leader of the Chibok community, who received the ten computer laptops, two Laser printers, pledged to ensure that the equipment are put to use for the maximum benefit of the students.
