The Kwara Ministry of Tertiary Education has met with stakeholders to work out modalities on transport palliatives by the government to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal on staff and students.
The permanent secretary of the ministry, Habibat Saidu, disclosed this after an interactive meeting with the stakeholders in Ilorin to map out the strategies to be adopted on Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s directives.
The meeting had in attendance AbdulRazaq Jiddah, the deans of student affairs of all public tertiary institutions in Kwara, representatives of students’ unions across the tertiary institutions, and representatives of the state chapter of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
The permanent secretary urged stakeholders in various sectors to complement government efforts.
According to her, the interactive meeting is meant to embrace suggestions on allocating the buses to strategic routes within the metropolis to achieve the desired target.
Ms Saidu reiterated that the transportation palliative for staff and students of tertiary institutions is free of charge, warning against extortion.
The Kwara official stressed that staff and students would benefit from the free bus ride only if they presented their institutions’ identification cards.
Mr Jidda urged the students to reciprocate the Kwara 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, the NANS chairman Kwara chapter, Yusuf AbdulGafar, suggested that the buses could be stationed at institutions in rural areas to convey students within such rural communities.
The Kwara government had on June 12 approved the deployment of government buses to support the movement of students and workers in public tertiary institutions within Ilorin and its environs to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal.
