By; AMOS TAUNA, Kaduna
The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) Students Wing, has expressed concerns over the high rate of insecurity in the institutions.
The students noted that following the insecurity on the campuses, kidnapping and banditry attacks are now perceived as the new normal, with students suffering from psychological disorders and kidnapping anxiety as a result of either being victims of kidnapping or having ones loved ones kidnapped or lost someone dear to kidnapping activities or the fear of being kidnapped.
Addressing newsmen on Tuesday in Kaduna, its National Coordinator, Hassan Adamu, said, “The act has increased students anxiety, leading to the withdrawal of female students from schools and poor academic performance.
“The Academic Staff Union of the University (ASUU) has issued a notice of warning strike, as a result of the inability of the Federal Government to resolve issues relating to the agreement reached between them.” He lamented.
Hyperinflation, he explained, as a result of the exchange rate policy, has multiplied the price of learning materials by 300%, as many students can’t afford essential textbooks, stressing that it is so bad that most students cannot afford a square meal a day.
According to him, the increased hike in electricity tariff has compounded the problem on most of the campuses, saying that almost all the campuses are left in blackout as a result of the inability of the management to settle electricity bills.
The increasing cost of PMS, he observed, is quite alarming and leading to a hike in transportation, pointing out that the federal government has failed to fulfil its promises of donating CNG buses to schools.
The National Coordinator lamented that the region has been hit with a flood disaster leading to the loss of thousands of lives and property worth billions of Naira, including farmlands, which is likely to affect the bumper harvest predicted by experts.
He hailed the release of the Benue State medical students from captivity and called on relevant agencies to provide all the students with adequate psychological and medical healthcare.
Adamu called on the President to revisit the approach and reform the security architecture of the Nation, assuring that they would no longer tolerate flimsy excuses and the blame game and also requested for the deployment of troops to all campuses to ease the anxiety among students.
He also called on the President to do everything possible to avert any form of industrial action in the tertiary institutions, saying that they would not go back to those days of having spent 7 years on a 4-year course.
The students sympathised with all the victims of flood disasters across the region and Nigeria at large, calling on government at all levels to, as a matter of urgency, roll out relief materials for victims of flood disasters in the region.
The Coalition of Northern Groups, students wing, then called on the Federal Government to review its foreign exchange policies as advised by experts, noting that leaving the market forces to determine whether foreign will continue to increase inflation.
The Federal Government should, he observed as a matter of urgency, reintroduce electricity subsidies at least for tertiary institutions or provide adequate Solar electrification as expected.
He lamented how the Federal Government is toying with the emotions of Nigerians on the issue of the Implementation of CNG conversion, requesting that the Federal Government fulfil its promise on distribution of CNG buses to campuses to ease the cost of transportation.