Human rights activist Omoyele Sowore has challenged the record of several Nigerian political leaders on public education, saying many of them held powerful offices but did not build universities they trusted enough to send their own children to.
He said this on Monday, 27 July in a post on X, where he also questioned the promotion of student loans as millions of families struggle with economic hardship.
His comments, again, address access to higher education and the condition of public universities as major national issues.
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Sowore’s remarks responded to continued public discussion on education funding, the rising cost of university education and government efforts to increase access through student loan programmes.
While the loan scheme is presented as support for students who cannot afford school fees, many have continued to ask whether it addresses the bigger problems affecting Nigeria’s education sector.
Focus shifts to leaders’ personal choices
Sowore directed attention to what he called the gap between the decisions of political leaders and the condition of public universities in Nigeria. Instead of focusing only on the student loan policy, he questioned why many public office holders did not educate their own children in the institutions they supervised or helped to fund.
He named President Bola Tinubu, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike, Anambra State Governor Charles Soludo and Minister of Works David Umahi among those whose children studied abroad.
Sowore wrote: “These are the same people who have served as governors, ministers of education, senators, and other top public officials, yet they never built or strengthened a single university they were proud or comfortable enough to send their own children to.”
He said ordinary Nigerians are being encouraged to celebrate student loans while many families are facing severe financial pressure.
Sowore also questioned whether the political leaders he mentioned ever relied on student loans to educate their own children outside Nigeria.
“Ask yourself: did Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nyesom Wike, Charles Soludo, David Umahi, and others take out student loans to send their children to universities in the United Kingdom? The answer is no,” he wrote.
He maintained that many children of top political figures attended leading universities overseas while public universities in Nigeria were left without the level of investment needed to compete.
Sowore also accused the political class of failing to use public resources to improve education for the benefit of ordinary Nigerians.
He said money that could have transformed universities and expanded opportunities for millions of students instead funded “the lifestyles and privileges of a political elite.”
Sowore made a call for a different set of leaders, saying Nigeria needs leaders who will invest in education rather than protect the interests of a privileged few.
“If our country is to have a fresh lease of life, these wicked men must be urgently replaced with leadership committed to investing in the education and future of all Nigerians, not just the privileged few,” he asserted.
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