The Executive Committee of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to look into the plights of students that were expelled from various tertiary institutions for what it called ‘political reasons.’
The student union leaders, who paid a visit to the President today, Thursday at the Presidential Villa, stressed the need for the President to restore dignity to the nation’s education system.
The Presidential visitors, who did not give details of the students that were so expelled and the institution from where they were expelled, appealed to President Buhari to also step in over the incessant strikes in the education sector.
The union leaders, led by its President, Comrade Danielson Bamidele Akpan, also appealed to Buhari to involve more youths in governance.
They expressed appreciation on the efforts of the Buhari’s government in the transformation of the transportation sector as well as the decimation of terrorists in the Northeast.
The President asked the students to continue to plead with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), to call off the strike and become more committed to their jobs.
The President assured that he will speak with the lecturers’ body “so that they don’t encroach on your efforts to qualify in time.
He said that he had explained in details while presenting the 2019 budget estimates, the earnings and expenditure and therefore expected the elite to understand the position of the government on certain issues.
The President advised the youths to start preparing themselves to lead the country.
“There is a tendency for you to think that you can do better than anybody, but it is very good for you to know the facts whhat leadership entails. “
He assured Labour leaders that, having been in positions of leadership at various stages in life, and with the experience, he means well for Nigerians and indeed, workers, and should be allowed to fix infrastructure so that more Nigerians could be taken out of the poverty cycle.
“I am totally loyal to this country. Whatever I do is in the interest of the ordinary people, especially those who do not have the benefit of being educated, and are just trusting whoever is leading them.”
Buhari expressed gratitude to the students for appreciating some of the things his administration has been able to put in place and called on them to mobilise support for government, as it strives to make Nigeria a better place.
