President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has promised that his administration will commit more resources to the education sector to ensure that every Nigerian child, regardless of their background, has access to quality education.
The president made the promise on Tuesday while speaking in his office at State House, Abuja, when he received the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
He said poverty should not be a barrier to education, stressing the transformative power of education in combating poverty.
“‘If we all believe that education is the greatest weapon against poverty then we have to invest in it. Poverty should not prevent anybody, any child, including the daughter or son of a wood seller, ‘Bole’ (plantain) seller or yam seller from attaining their highest standard of education, to eliminate poverty. ‘If you eliminate poverty from one family, you can carry the rest of the weight.”
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The president, in a statement by Abiodun Oladunjoye, Director of Information, State House, Abuja, expressed his appreciation for the students’ support of the removal of subsidy on petrol, explaining the reasons behind the decision and the need to curb smuggling.
Tinubu, who promised to consider the requests of the NANS leaders, urged the students body to ensure unity among its members across the country to achieve more.
Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Umar Barambu, said the NANS leaders had come to thank the president for the signing into law of the Student Loan Bill, which will provide loans to indigent students such that no Nigerian student in tertiary institutions would drop out of school over inability to pay school fees.
“We are here to congratulate you and to thank you for what you have been doing for the country since you assumed responsibility as the President. We want to equally thank you for the Students Loan Bill,” Barambu said.
Declaring the students’ support for the removal of fuel subsidy, the NANS president said, “It takes a great person to take that bold step of removing the subsidy on petrol. Some people contacted us to protest against that decision, but we said no!
“The well is dry and ‘Baba’ cannot give what we don’t have now. We have to accept reality and face that challenge squarely so that together we can rescue the country. Today we are saying ‘yes’ to fuel subsidy removal and we will stand with that decision.”
While fielding questions from reporters after the meeting, the NANS president expressed the opposition of the students association to the inclusion of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) into the supervising board of the Students Loan Bill implementation with the exclusion of polytechnics and colleges of education.
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