NKRUMAH BANKONG-OBI/Lafia
Student associations and youth groups says they have no plans to join the proposed nationwide protest against bad governance. The groups said they have tremendous confidence in the Governor Sule administration at the state level and the President Bola Tinubu government at the centre to turn the state and nation’s fortune round, regardless of the prevailing difficult circumstances. This was made known at roundtable organised by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Abdullahi Sule on Youths and Student Affairs.
The SSA on Youths and Students Affairs, Shuaibu Sani, who convened the meeting tagged Youths and Students’ Engagement gave an overview of the of the engagement, noting that the governor has created over 8,000 jobs, regularized the appointment of casual workers at the Nasarawa State House of Assembly and has provided a conducive environment for learning in the tertiary institutions in the state. He also said the administration of governor Sule has provided palliatives and continues to do so, across the State. “The achievements of Governor Sule in the areas of student welfare cannot be wished away. He noted that there may have been policies and programmes of the various levels of government that may have caused discomfort. this he told the gathering, was the reason for the engagement; to provide an avenue to people to contribute to finding solutions to the problems identified.
Responding on behalf of all youths in the State, Ja’afaru Loko, the Chairman of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, NYCN, Nasarawa State chapter said young people in Nasarawa State will not participate in the protest because heckling does not solve any problems, he said the best option is to find solutions to challenges through dialogue. “Protests, demonstrations and uprisings have never proffered solutions to situations like this in the past and only dialogue can help in tackling the current challenges,” he said, calling on the youths to remain peaceful and continue to be ambassadors of peace as they have been known. He said it is the position of the youths to be not to take part in any protest. He noted that Governor Sule runs a youth-friendly administration and has empowered a lot of youth people, appointing some into positions of authority.
Loko accused some elites in the state of using some students to foment trouble. To this, he said the leadership of the unions are focussed and they won’t allow that to happen this time around. He also recalled that during the last nationwide Endsars protests, thugs were brought in from outside the State to protest. He therefore called on security agencies to screen anyone protesting in the State because they may not be bonafide residents of Nasarawa State.
In his remarks, Haruna Ibrahim Chairman of the Joint Campuses of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS Nasarawa State said the students have benefitted from State government, citing the stipends and bursary paid to students, accreditation of courses in the institutions of learning, efforts to eradicate drug abuse, cultism and other vices in the campuses. he said NANS has so far activated her operational modus of consultations, consolidation and confrontation. He reported that thus far, the answer they have gotten thus far is a resounding no against any form of protest at this time. He promised to embark to a tour of the campuses in the state through townhall meetings to sensitize their members on the stands of the association.
Present at the parley which held in Lafia the State capital were representatives of NYCN, NANS, Nasarawa State Students Association, NASSA, the Youth Wing of the Christians Association of Nigeria, YOWICAN and the youth wing of the Jama’atu Nasil Islam and others.