The recent directive by President Muhammadu Buhari that Federal Universities should stop collecting tuition from their students is a re-affirmation of his government’s pro-people disposition.
The Buhari Media Organization (BMO) said it is also an acknowledgement of the Buhari administration’s determination to truly lift the Nigerian poor from their disadvantaged access to qualitative and affordable education.
In a press statement signed by the Coordinator, Austin Braimoh and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke in Abuja, BMO said: “Nobody is in doubt of the significant and catalysing role education, especially of the tertiary sort, plays in uplifting people congregated in family units, to higher economic and mental grounds.”
It added: “On this note, we heartily commend the Buhari government for saving qualified children of the poor and vulnerable who, had, until now, been denied equitable access to tertiary education directly because of the fees charged by the Federal Universities.
“We understand that the policy of zero tuition is not new; indeed, it has been in place over the years. However, the policy had severally been twisted, manipulated at will and generally abandoned by affected Federal Universities so much so that they have engaged in a competition of which among them can charge and get away with the highest tuition.”
The group however cautioned that the reassertion by the Federal Government on zero tuition calls for vigilance and monitoring for the good of the Nigerian people.
“We call on students’ body as represented by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and the entire labour movement to rise to this call to monitor and challenge any appearance of tuition charges by any Federal Universities.”
The group said it believes that this is one more reason Nigerians across divides should rally round Buhari’s administration to continue to deliver consequential policies that are truly beneficial to the mass of Nigerian people.