(1) Governorship elections are looming in Nigeria and nobody is talking about primary school education. I put this down to ignorance so let me enlighten my people about this very important matter

(2) Nigeria’s constitution restricts the running of primary schools to the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory Authority.  Even if it wants to, our federal government cannot get involved in the matter as that would be illegal

(3) As we all know, the state of our primary schools nationwide is abysmal. Most of you here will not keep your pets in the terrible buildings we call schools. Many have no roofs and the children sit on the bare floor. How will they not join Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen?

(4) While we are debating who owns Lagos, our children are being condemned to an uncertain future because of the foundation they get. Do you know that who you vote for as governor next weekend determines the fate of all the primary school students in your state

(5) For 2019, President Buhari budgeted N462.2bn ($1.27bn) for education, which is just less than 5% of the total. For me, this totally unacceptable. Our education budget should be at least 15% of the total in my opinion

(6) Even if the education budget was 10 times that size anyway, it would not be going towards primary school education because the education minister is not the one responsible, it is the governors

(7) When you have a governor like Yahaya Bello who owes two years salary arrears, do you really expect the primary schools in Kogi State to be refurbished? How many governors have the time to visit primary schools in their states?

(8) In Lagos State, we have the unique problem of school pupils having to leave home at 5am to avoid traffic jams and get to school on time. I think resolving this is 10 times more important than a debate about who owns more stalls in Alaba market

(9) Rather than descend into the gutter with the ethnic jingoists, Ohaneze Ndigbo Lagos should have just shut them up by pledging to refurbish 10 primary schools a year and supplying 12 US-style buses to transport kids to school every morning. They have the money for it. I do not want to hear this talk about it being the government’s responsibility bla bla bla because as we all know, the fat profits of say the Alaba Automobile Spare Parts Traders far exceeds the Lagos State education budget

(10) I have long argued that Ohaneze Ndigbo needs to mount a charm offensive to convince the rest of Nigeria that they have nothing to fear from Igbos. With 2023 looming and the desire for a president of Igbo extraction, the time to act is now. Ohaneze, get your 36 branches to show Nigeria how primary schools should be run