The Kwara Ministry of Tertiary Education has met with stakeholders to work out modalities on the free transport palliatives by the government to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal on staff and students.
The Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Hajiya Habibat Saidu, disclosed this after an interactive meeting with the stakeholders in Ilorin to map out the strategies to be adopted on Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s directives.
The meeting, which had in attendance Malam AbdulRazaq Jiddah, Deans of Students Affairs of all Public Tertiary Institutions in the state, representatives of students’ unions accross the tertiary institutions, and representatives of the state chapter of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
The permanent secretary, who emphasised the goodwill of AbdulRazaq’s administration on the student-community and Kwarans at large, charged stakeholders at various sectors to also complement government efforts.
According to her, the interactive meeting is meant to embrace suggestions on how best to allocate the buses to strategic routes within the metropolis, in order to achieve the desired target.
Saidu reiterated that the transportation palliative for staff and students of tertiary institutions is free of charge, warning against extortion.
She added that both staff and students would be allowed to benefit from the free bus ride with their institutions’ identification cards as means of identification.
On his part, Jidda urged the students community to reciprocate the state government’s gesture by conducting themselves in an orderly manner to sustain the free transportation palliative.
He disclosed further that more palliative measures to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal are underway by the state government.
Speaking on behalf of the students body, the Chairman of the state chapter of NANS, Comrade Yusuf AbdulGafar, commended the giant strides of AbdulRazaq for alleviating their transportation difficulty.
AbdulGafar, who praised the government initiative, suggested that the buses could be stationed at institutions in the rural areas in order to convey students within such rural communities.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the state government had on June 12 approved the deployment of government buses to support movement of students and workers in public tertiary institutions within Ilorin and its environs to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal.