The two day Renewed Hope Student Leaders Engagement And Capacity Building Training, with theme “Renewed Hope Students Engagement, Rivers 2025” has ended in Port Harcourt.
The event which took place at the University of Port Harcourt had in attendance students from various tertiary institutions in the south -south region and representatives of MDAs.
According to Hon. Comr, Asefon Sunday, Senior Special Assistant(SSA) to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said the aim is to engage student leaders meaningfully, inform them about the far-reaching reforms of President Tinubu in education and youth development, and also to hear from them directly so as to build a more inclusive, impactful and prosperous future for Nigerian students.
Hon. Comr. Sunday commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his foresight and interest in education as the foundation of national development, stressing that under the Renewed Hope Agenda, bold and transformative initiatives have been rolled out.
The launch of Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) he said, has made education accessible and affordable, noting that the scheme has significantly reduced the number of student dropouts.
Comr. Sunday also reminded the students of the recent approval by the President of funds allocated to schools, colleges of education, polytechnics and Universities to enable them create innovation hubs and entrepreneurship center, to provide core labs/workstations electronic Labs, etc.
The Managing Director of Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Akintunde Sawyerr in his speech said the agency has received 745,000 applications while over 400,000 students have benefited from the policy.
Sawyerr explained that the program is only for Universities, Polytechnics, and Colleges of Education that are owned by either by the Federal or State governments saying private institutions are not eligible for now.
A Director at the Ministry of Youth Development, Essien Emmanuel who represented the Minister of Youths, Ayodele Olawande and Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, the Minister of Education who was also represented by David Atuwo, the special Adviser Technical to the Minister of Education in their various speeches mapped out their Ministries initiatives and achievements and called on the students to take advantage of the opportunities for the betterment of their future.
A student of Uniport , Miss Favour Atamonokhai from the department of Chemical Engineering urged the government to go into more awareness campaign, saying most students are not aware of the policy.
