Tinubu determined to rescue kidnapped medical students – Aide

The Senior Special Assistant on Students’ Engagements to President Bola Tinubu, Sunday Asefon, has assured students nationwide that his principal was taking the necessary steps to rescue the medical students kidnapped in Enugu State.

He disclosed that concrete plans were also afoot to tackle the country’s increasing population of out-of-school children.

The presidential aide made the statements against the backdrop of the recent abduction of 20 medical students while travelling to Enugu State through Otukpo Local Government Area in Benue State, where they encountered the bandits.

Mr Asefon spoke on Monday in Ado Ekiti at the commencement of a two-day leadership training organised by his office for students’ union leaders in the south-west region, with the theme: ‘Building Responsible Leaders for National Development.’

He noted that the training aimed to imbue the students’ leaders with the right skills to manage friction with the school management for steady, unhindered and progressive school calendars to be attainable.

The aide added that Mr Tinubu, as a student and youth-friendly leader, was determined to hand over power to the youthful generation. However, he stressed that there was a need for such future leaders to be trained in leadership skills for the nation to have a prosperous and blossoming future.

Mr Asefon described the President as the most committed leader in Nigerian history in terms of investments in the education system, saying that the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), codenamed Students’ Loan, is a game changer that will reduce the number of school dropouts on account of financial incapacitation.

“President Tinubu promised that he will stop the cases of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) frequent strikes, and he started achieving this by paying their nine-month withheld salaries and by getting them off the IPPIS payroll. That had helped in settling their grievances.

“The tenures of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari were riddled with ASUU strikes. There wasn’t any year when all the unions in the university didn’t go on strike. However, President Tinubu has spent one year and three months in office, and no national strike has been recorded.

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“The NELFUND looked impossible in the beginning, but students from poor backgrounds are now having access to the funds in our federal and state tertiary institutions. Let me assure you that the increasing rate of out-of-school children and unrest on our campuses will be eliminated under the present government,” he said.

Mr Asefon stressed that the essence of the training was to promote dialogue between the student’s leadership and management and to foster robust relationships that can promote learning and academic standards on campuses.

He saluted the student population across the country for shunning the #EndBadGovernance protests, which, according to him, ended in crisis and fiasco.

He noted that shunning the protests signposted respect and a confidence vote for Mr Tinubu’s personality and leadership.