“No president invested more in education than Tinubu”

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Students’ Matters, Sunday Ashefon, disclosed on Wednesday that President Bola Tinubu deserves credit for his heavy investment in the education sector.

The former president of the National Association of Nigerian Students stated that it is on record that no past leader has achieved so many feats as Tinubu did within one year.

Ashefon said this at a town hall organised by NANS for students and members of the civil society organisation in Abuja on Wednesday.

The meeting was held to mobilise and enlighten youths on the danger of violent demonstrations ahead of tomorrow’s (Thursday) nationwide hunger protest.

According to the senior aide, the president has never hidden his intention to empower and make the Nigerian youths thrive long before he took over the mantle of leadership.

He said, “If there is someone who has been in the street and in the trenches who knows where the shoe pinches, it has been Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. I can say anywhere that he is a president who opens doors for young ones to thrive. I stand before you today to say that even in this government, he has given opportunities for young ones to be ministers.

“As a senior special adviser to this government, as a former president of the National Association of Nigerian Students in 2014/15 under ex-President Goodluck Jonathan and as a former president of the National Association of Nigerian Students in 2020/21 under ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, I am bold to say and will say it unequivocally that no president has invested what Asiwaju has invested in education within one year.

“In their eight years, they have not achieved that much in the sector. I am not saying this because we are here. I must accept that on my part I have failed to an extent. And how is that? I have failed to leave my office and go into the streets, centres and campuses to tell the students all that this government has done within one year in office. “If you count those who are under 40s in this administration, they can’t be less than five.”

Ashefon cited the student loan scheme, removal of university lecturers from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information among others as some of Tinubu’s impacts in the education sector.

In a similar event, former Bayelsa governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the last election, Udengs Eradiri appealed for demonstrators to resist vandalising public assets and private properties ahead of Thursday’s planned protest.

The ex-NANS leader noted that the scar and destruction witnessed in the November 2020 EndSARS demonstration is still fresh in the minds of Nigerians.

He said, “I think what we should be discussing is how to support this government to succeed. That is what young people should be thinking. Look at what happened in Lagos during the EndSARS. Success became the enemy when the people protesting EndSARS resorted to burning businesses. We all saw the level of destruction.

“I just returned from Port Harcourt today and I can tell you the Niger Delta youths are mobilising. We are also mobilising because we know those of us who didn’t want this protest to happen are fewer than those who want it to go on. But let’s manage it to a point where it does not destroy our future. That was what they did in Lagos.

“Look at the destruction in Lagos where they burned buses and vehicles some years ago. At the end of the day, we don’t have enough buses to move around. I think we should give this government a chance. For the first time, we have a president who is dealing with so many issues. Every issue raised on social media, this president is doing it.”