Peter Obi, former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, says the unfortunate situation in the University of Calabar, UNICAL, where the education of more than 300 dentistry students of the university is at risk of being truncated after the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN, allocated only 10 slots to UNICAL due to a lack of dentistry equipment is a direct reflection of failed leadership in Nigeria.
Obi who spoke at the Margaret Ekpo Airport, Calabar, shortly after making a N20 million naira donation to help alleviate the burden on students of the Faculty of Dentistry, decried how the government had neglected what he described as the most basic educational needs of students, while political leaders indulged in extravagance and basked in opulence.
He was particular that, “we cannot continue to allow our children to bear the brunt of our political blunders.We spend millions on luxury for political office holders, yet young Nigerians pursuing education lack the most basic tools. It shouldn’t be so.”
The former governor of Anambra State said, the donation “…is a token to help procure 15 additional dental chairs, a key requirement set by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria for expanding the faculty’s student intake,”
While urging government to consider the plight of the affected students, whose academic progress had been severely hampered by inadequate facilities, he called on well-meaning Nigerians and leaders to support institutions like Unical, insisting that the future of the country depends on how well its citizens are educated and empowered.
