…Sensitizes Students on Empowerment Opportunities in MDAs
By Barikui Felix
Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Students Engagement, Comrade Sunday Asefon has says the president has been very kind to the Nigerian students.
He also said that the president has kept to all his campaign promises in the education sector and to the students community in Nigeria.
Asefon, who spoke in Port Harcourt during the Renewed Hope Student Leaders Engagement and Capacity Building, also said the essence of the engagement was to enlighten Nigerian students on the many initiatives being put in place by the federal government for the students.
He pointed to Tinubu’s reforms and policies in the educational sector especially the students loan, increase in budgetary allocation and approval for upgrade in schools around the country as pointers to his commitment to Nigerian students.
Asefon also assured that under President Tinubu, there will not be any shutting down of schools on account of strike by lecturers because of his robust reforms in the sector.
He said: “The president has removed the universities from IPPS, today the universities have the capacity to employ and to do whatever they want to do. The 20 percent from their Internally Generated Revenue has also been stopped so universities are having more funds.
“This is the first time in the history of this country that ₦5.2tr was budgeted for education. It has never happened before. The president prioritises education that’s why he can give such amount of money to the education sector”.
“The president has fulfilled his campaign promises to us as Nigerian students, he has fulfilled his campaign promises to us in education sector. NELFUND is part of his campaign promises and barely three months after he was sworn-in he officially launched NELFUND. It means he’s commitment to the Nigerian students, he’s a promise keeper,” he added.
Asefon, who is a former National President, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), lamented that students were not taking advantage of the various initiatives provided by the ministries and government agencies such as the ministries of education, youths, science and innovation, NELFUND, Petroleum Development Trust Fund (PTDF) amongst others to better lives.
He said the engagement aims to bridge the gap between the students community and policymakers.
“I discovered from interaction with agencies that there are lots of opportunities for Nigerian students in these MDAs and ministries that are yet to be tapped into by the students because of lack of awareness so this programme affords students the opportunity to engage one-on-one with the representatives of MDAs and the NELFUND and it is believed that after here they would go back and disseminate same to their friends of the opportunities in the ministries and MDAs” he stressed.
The presidential aide called on the students to be watchful and search the various media platforms of the various government agencies for opportunities and tap in.
He further dispelled insinuations of the engagement which is meant for students’ leaders from the South South geo-political zone, having a political undertone.
“We are not here for campaign. We are here majorly to inform them and amplify the empowerment initiatives of Mr President in education and youth sector. That’s why all the representatives of the MDAs are here to tell the student opportunities in their ministries and that they can tap into it,” he stated.
Also speaking, Managing Director of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Mr Akintunde Sawyer, addressed misconceptions about the student loan scheme, saying the scheme is transparent and accessible.
He revealed that about 400,000 students are currently benefitting from the loan.
Sawyer clarified that while the institutions loan is paid directly into the students’ school account, the upkeep loan is paid into the students personal account, adding that both are repayable.
“I can tell you that so far we have had 760,000 Nigerians who have registered for this loan. We have over 745,000 Nigerians who have applied successfully for this loan and out of that number we have just over 400,000 students who are benefitting from this loan.
“They are having their school fees paid at tertiary levels and some of them who have applied for the upkeep are receiving 20,000 monthly for the session. So far we’ve disbursed over N80bn to Nigerian institutions and to Nigerians who are benefitting from the loan,” the NELFUND MD stated.
He charged students to take advantage of the loan facility to ease their burdens and that of their parents in seeing them through tertiary education.
On their parts, Mr Emmanuel Essien, a Director at the Ministry of Youth Development who represented the Minister of Youth Ayodele Olawande and Mr David Atuwo, Special Adviser (Technical) to the Minister of Education Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, outlined various initiatives of their ministries geared towards students and youths and urging them to leverage on the programmes to better their lots even while in school.
They also commended the SSA to President Bola Tinubu on Students Engagement for organizing the programme.
“Most times students in higher institutions are left behind in most of the empowerment programme so I commend the SSA on Students Engagement for this wonderful initiative. We believe it will go round because our young people need to be aware of what the government is doing because there are so many opportunities the federal government is putting in place for the youths,” Mr Essien remarked.
