The national leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students,NANS, says it has pulled out of the planned nationwide protest across the country.
To this end,the body of Nigerian students has directed students across the 36 state and the Federal Capital Territory,FCT,to stay away from the planned action,billed to commence on August 1.
Recall that organisers of the strike have repeatedly cited economic hardship and rising inflation occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government as major reasons for plan to call people to the street in protest.
But speaking Friday,in Abuja,when he led a delegation of executive members of NANS to the Minister of Education,NANS president, Lucky Emonefe, said the Nigerian students were no longer part of the proposed protests.
Emonefe,who was led to the meeting by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Student Engagement, Sunday Asefon, promised that no student will participate in the action.
The Nigerian students leader said his decision to pull students away from the action was informed by President Bola Tinubu’s reforms in all sectors aimed at repositioning the country. This was even as he admitted that citizens were indeed facing severe hardship due to the president’s action.
He said:“We want to say that there is hunger in the land and Nigerian students are most affected. We are aware that palliatives were given to governors.
“We are saying that as the government is distributing palliatives, they should remember the student constituencies.
“Though we have challenges but we want to say that we have resolved to be law abiding and not to join any chaos in the society.”
The NANS president, however,appealed to the president to measures in place to reduce the hunger Nigerians are passing through following his policy action.
On his part,the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman,who admitted that there was hardship in the country, explained that government had been rolling out measures to ameliorate the situation.
He explained that the government had launched an expanded transformative scholarship programme, aimed at supporting the education of 45,000 students across the country, adding that government was commited to expanding access to education as well as deepening the academic and professional growth o
He thanked the students’ body for the wise decision it made and advised it to continue to support government to leave a befitting legacy in education for Nigerians.
