Tuition hike: Donate your salary to sponsor students, PDP chieftain urges El-Rufai

A chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Lawal Adamu Usman has urged the governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai, to donate his salary to sponsor Kaduna students.

It comes after the state recently increased tuition in tertiary institutions.

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Speaking when he handed over payment receipts to 100 beneficiaries of the Lawal Adamu Usman Foundation scholarship programme in Kaduna, the PDP chieftain further called on the state governor to lead by example and use his monthly salary to pay school fees of Kaduna students.

“I believe it will not cost the governor anything to lead by example, by using his salary to pay school fees of students who cannot afford to pay, due to the rise in school fees,” he added.

He noted the foundation has earmarked N30 million in scholarship for students in Kaduna State University (KASU), Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic and College of Education, Gidan Waya.

He stated that the foundation has been able to provide scholarships for 100 students out of the 10, 000 students that applied in the first batch.

“We earmarked N30 million for the scholarship this year and we hope to increase the amount to N50 million in order to accommodate more students.

“We have commenced payment of the beneficiary student’s tuition fees with the scholarship. We are paying N107,000 for returning students and N150, 000 for new students,” he added.

While urging well-meaning residents of the state to come to the aid of indigent students, he called on them to be law-abiding and adopt a different strategy to table their grievances rather than taking to the streets in protest.

In his remarks, the President of the National Association of Kaduna Students (NAKAS), Tajudeen Kabir appreciated the foundation for the gesture, saying now was the best time to make a donation.

He urged other well-meaning Kaduna citizens to emulate Mr. Usman’s gesture by paying the school fees of those students who cannot afford to pay the ‘exorbitant’ fees.