Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for 2023, has attributed the widespread failure of pupils in the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) to inadequate funding for the education system.
According to Obi, the 2024 WAEC results, which revealed a 7.69 percent decline in the performance of Nigerian students, validate the alarming underfunding of the vital sectors of the nation’s development.
This was revealed in a statement released on Monday by the former governor of Anambra State.
Obi said, “The recent announcement by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) that it recorded a 7.69 percent decrease in the performance of candidates who sat for the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in Nigeria reaffirms the worrying lack of investment in the critical areas of development, education, health and pulling people out of poverty.
“This constant decline in our educational performance and other critical areas demands urgent attention and action.
“With our claimed literacy rate of over 50%, we are still ranked 187 on the global scale of literacy, reflecting a visible lack of commitment to education in the country. Our investment in education, as with other critical areas, remains poor.
“A total capital expenditure for the entire education sector, including the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), was allocated N330.3 billion. For a country with about 81,520 schools at the primary level and 23,550 schools at the secondary level, such an amount is visibly poor.”
