The Vice-Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s advise against building schools in remote areas
Speaking in an interview on ‘Prime Time’, a programme on Arise Television, on Thursday, Baba-Ahmed said the remark was totally wrong.
His comment is coming against the backdrop of President Bola Tinubu urging state governments to rethink the establishment of boarding schools in remote or under-protected areas, citing the growing risks of insecurity to students.
Tinubu’s remarks followed a wave of mass kidnappings of schoolchildren and teachers in Niger, Kebbi and other parts of the country in the past week.
Reacting to this development, Baba-Ahmed said, “For the Commander-in-Chief to say stop building schools in remote areas, I will say continue building. I’m not contradicting the commander in chief, but he has said something very wrong.
“I wish it was possible to have avoided all these in the first place but wishful thinking is not the life that we live. I wish president Bola Tinubu can hear this very quickly, withdraw that statement and please correct himself.
“He should encourage people to build schools. If I had money, I would build in the rural areas. He should quickly remove that point of stopping people because in this sense, attack is the best form of defense.
“We in the educational world are fighting a war on behalf of the country that people don’t realize and it’s as good as what the Armed Forces are doing.
“So for the Commander-in-Chief to say stop building schools in rural areas is wrong.”
