FG approves buses for tertiary institutions, removes restriction on students loans

President Bola Tinubu has approved provision of buses to the students’ bodies of all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education across the country.

This is in furtherance of his desire to ease the burden of the fuel subsidy removal on students of higher institutions of learning.

This is contained in a statement by Mr Dele Alake, Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy on Monday in Abuja.

He said it was the desire of the President to see that students can access their campuses without much difficulty as a result of higher transportation costs.

The provision of the buses will also remove the burden of additional cost of daily commuting on parents and guardians.

The President has also approved the removal of all restrictions on the students’ loan to make it available to any student or household that may desire it.

He said that this was in line with his promise to ensure no Nigerian student abandons his or her educational pursuits as a result of inadequate finances of their parents.

Similarly, Tinubu directed the authorities in all Federal tertiary institutions to avoid arbitrary increase in sundry fees payable and where possible defer further increase to ease the difficulties faced by parents.

The president also said that efforts are being worked out to ensure that vulnerable students can also benefit from conditional cash transfers and food distribution.

Tinubu saluted the courage, wisdom and partnership of Nigerian Students as the country navigates this challenging time.

He pledged to continue to prioritise education, the needs of the students, welfare of both teaching and non-academic staff as well as infrastructure investment in institutions of higher learning to make them more globally competitive.