According to him, it is wrong for universities to be on strike and campaigns are ongoing.
Obi who lamented that such can only happen in Nigeria, described the situation as not only sad but unacceptable.
The presidential hopeful made his mind known on Wednesday during a guest appearance on the Berekete family radio in Abuja.
He said the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which has consistently kept students of federal universities away from school is due to the negligence and insensitivity of the government.
Obi knocked the government for making promises without working towards fulfilling such promises.
“It is very very sad. It is intolerable that schools are closed and we are campaigning and we are even talking about elections. It would never happen in any other country except Nigeria,” he said.
“Education is the most important investment a nation can do for its citizens, which we are playing with here.
“The scourge of this problem is because we have an uncaring government. The agreement was made in 2009 that they will give universities N1 trillion to renovate universities, and that they will pay lecturers’ allowances.
“If they were to be paying N100 million yearly, the payment would have been paid in full. Even N50 million yearly would have done it to some extent.
“The problem is the government made empty promises. So, this made everyone fight. Money collected from presidential aspirants can feed ASUU’s demands.”
On his part, if elected President in 2023, Obi who is seeking the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) promised to make primary and secondary education free throughout the country.
“I won’t make tertiary education free. Primary and secondary will be free, but we must find a way to fund tertiary education,” he added.
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