The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has lamented over the state of human capital development in Nigeria.
Obi asserted that the inadequate attention being paid to human capital development is the root cause of most investment challenges.
Speaking via his X account, the former Anambra governor expressed shock that 2024 budget had a sum of N5 billion budgeted for student loans while a larger sum of N6 billion was budgeted to build a car park for the legislators.
He lamented that if Nigeria does not cut cost of governance and strictly prioritizes expenditure on areas of growth and development, the country will not achieve any tangible and lasting development.
Obi said it is shocking that Nigeria’s budget was signed and released to the world without prioritizing the critical areas of investment for the people.
According to him, “Today, in this country, the inadequate attention being paid to human capital development is at the root of most investment challenges. This malaise has become a recurring decimal in our political life due to poor governance and persistent leadership failure.
“It is therefore shocking that our budget was signed and released to the world without prioritizing the critical areas of investment for the people.
“A sum of N5 billion was budgeted for student loans, while a larger sum of N6 billion was budgeted to build a car park for Legislators, who recently used 12 times the amount of student loans to buy official cars. Now we are using an amount more than was budgeted for student loans to provide legislators with car parks. Nigeria remains a country without a national library.