The leadership of the Progressive Students Movement (PSM), a foremost Pan-African Students Movement, has joined the progressive family and Nigerians in felicitating with President Bola Tinubu, 16th President of Nigeria, on his one year in office.
The National President of PSM, Amb. Bestman Okereafor, on Monday in Enugu commended the efforts of President Tinubu on National Defence and internal security where gallant Nigerian military troops had succeeded in neutralizing 9,303 terrorists/criminals.
Okereafor noted that the troops had
arrested notorious criminal and insurgent kingpins all over the country, adding that “this is apart from arrest of 6,998 and rescue of 4,641 hostages among others”.
According to him, another key achievement of President Tinubu in the last one year was the signing of the Access to Higher Education Act, 2023 into law on June 12, 2023.
He said: “This law is to enable indigent students to access interest-free loans for their educational pursuits in any Nigerian tertiary institution a move considered as fulfillment of one of his campaign promises to liberalise funding of education.
“However, we call on school managements to be accountable and transparent by ensuring that students Data are promptly uploaded to the National Educational Loan Fund (NELFUND) site to enable students access the loan.
“Even as we are calling on NELFUND to ensure the principle of Federal Character is ensured, all regions must have a fair share regardless of state, religion and tribe.
“We also call on the government to consider paying both the academic and non academic staff unions their outstanding emoluments to avoid elongation of academic year which may further truncate the students’ loan plans.
“We have seen a situation were ASUU went on strike for eight months under the last administration. We also caution school management to halt any plans of hike in school fees because of students’ loan as it will be vehemently resisted.”
The PSM boss, however, charged President Tinubu to remember his key electioneering agenda which included but not limited to education and economic stability; food security, poverty eradication, job creation, rule of law, social security and fighting corruption among others.
Okereafor noted that in the last one year the effects of the removal of oil subsidy had drastically affected the economy with prices of food items, transportation, and essential goods skyrocketing; while hunger, starvation and lamentation had become the order of the day.
“Despite the worsening state of electricity supply, tariffs have also been increased. The exchange rate has worsened, thereby making naira worthless.
“It is no more news that accessing medical attention in the hospitals or even buying medicines at patent medicine stores, has gone beyond the reach of the ordinary person as everything has become unaffordable to the poor thereby leading to the death of many.
“It will be recalled that a litre of fuel, which sold for N185 a year ago, is currently selling between N750 and N800. Worse is the fact that it is scarce. Mid last year, a 50-kilogram bag of rice was sold between N42,000 and N50,000. It soared to N90,000 in February, and now it costs N80,000.
“Besides foodstuffs, cost of medicines, school fees, and house rents, all of which were as a result of the removal of subsidy on petrol and some other tough decisions with future positive projections taken by this administration.
“This development if not promptly attended to is most capable of increasing insecurity and crime rate nationwide because it is said that an idle hand is the devil’s workshop,” he said.
The PSM leader also commended the Nation’s First Lady, Her Excellency Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, efforts through her Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI); adding: “the first lady is impacting lives across the six geo-political zones of the federation.”
He said that information at the movement’s disposal showed at present Osun, Bauchi, Lagos States are having the benefit of ICT education through the Alternative High School for Girls Initiative of Sen. Tinubu.
He said: “This is just one of several examples of the First Lady’s social interventions which emphasize equal educational opportunities for all girls, regardless of past challenges.
“The school aims to empower girls who may have faced obstacles like early marriage or lack of support.
“She recently hosted First Ladies of some African countries including Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Gambia, Burundi, Gabon, Ghana and the representatives of Uganda and Congo First Ladies for the the launch of the #WeAreEqual Campaign in Nigeria.”
Okereafor also said that her excellency current fight against cancer and tuberculosis (TB) is equally commendable.
He said: “According to the World Health Organisation, TB is a disease caused by a bacterium (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that often affects the lungs.
“WHO said a total of 1.3 million people died from TB in 2022, including 167,000 people with HIV. Globally, TB is the second leading infectious killer disease after COVID-19 (above HIV and AIDS).
Nigeria is ranked sixth and first country with a high burden of TB in the world and Africa respectively.
“Her excellency Nigeria’s First Lady, also donated N1 billion through the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) to support the fight to end the Tuberculosis epidemic in Nigeria by 2030.”
The PSM boss finally appealed to President Tinubu to consider prioritizing the welfare of the people, by considering implementing “a new living wage and not a proposed minimum wage for workers”.
“We are not unaware of the numerous programmes that have been put in place basically to cushion the effect of the economic hardship; however, we strongly believe the implementation of a new living wage at this time will in no little way put smiles on the faces of Nigerians.
“It is our prayers that God continuously grant our president the wisdom to lead our beloved Country Nigeria right and in the path of peace and resounding progress,” he added.
