Presidential candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has said he hoped Nigerian leaders in the nearest future would be those with authentic academic certificates with recognition from their classmates.
Obi said this as he decried people busy celebrating leaders with criminal pasts at the expense of those that have excellent education and worthy careers.
He said he was still determined to change course of the country if availed of the opportunity to lead.
Obi spoke in Abuja while delivering a keynote address at the graduation ceremony of students of Pacesetters Academy.
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He maintained that Nigeria cannot develop without education, adding that the country must invest more in education.
Obi, who insisted that his presidential ambition was alive, said, “In the next Nigeria, you will not be a leader unless you attended a school, unless you know your classmates unless you have a good certificate whereby if you bring your certificate, nobody will doubt it.”
Obi, while also noting that education was the most pivotal mechanism that any nation needed, said “What differentiates development and underdeveloped was education.
“For me, education is the most important thing that any nation needs. What differentiates developed and underdeveloped is education. It is the foundation. Even when you go out and people tell you about measures of development being hinged on the human development index and they tell you it is education, health and per capital income, I will tell you that of all these three, health is about education, if you don’t have a well-educated society, you can’t have a healthy society.
“You can’t pull people out of poverty without education. The more people are educated, the more they pull themselves out of poverty and that is critical. The more you put people out of poverty, the more you reduce humanity and you can’t do that unless you invest in education.
“The more people are educated, the more they put themselves out of poverty and that is critical. You can’t have 20 million out-of-school children and think of development tomorrow. We must have to invest in education.”
