The President Muhammadu Buhari administration last week Wednesday introduced a new measure aimed at alleviating the sufferings of Nigerians, especially students and their parents.
It announced a reduction in the examination registration fees for the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and National Examination Council (NECO) examinations for Senior Secondary and Basic Education Certificate Examination from January 2019.
After the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, also claimed that the reductions were not specifically aimed at garnering more votes for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 general elections, despite starting it a month to the elections.
According to him, it is part of government’s plans to alleviate the poverty of Nigerians especially as the agencies were not revenue generating bodies.
To buttress his points, he even pointed out that the past high examination fees were unnecessary as they were mostly siphoned into private pockets.
He said, “Since the new administration came into office and a change in management and prudent management by JAMB, we have been able to see that most of what have been charged doesn’t have to be because a lot of it have been siphoned by corrupt officials.
“So, in answer to yearnings by parents, Mr. President directed that we should look into the possibility of reducing the charges.
“So accordingly, from January 2019, JAMB fees will be from N5,000 to N3,500 for the UTME, Senior Secondary Certificate charged by National Examination Council (NECO) from 11,350 to N9,850 and Basic Education Certificate handled by NECO is reduced from N5,500 to N4,000.”
While some Nigerians have hailed the Federal Government for the reduction, others have criticised it as being too insignificant.
Those in support of the new measure went further to call on all state governors to urgently cut the cost of education in their states and improve access to quality education for children from poor and disadvantaged background.
But those against the reductions argued that the reductions may not have the desired impact as they were not even up to 50% reduction from the original prices.
They also faulted the timing of the reduction in prices, stressing that they have everything to do with the coming general elections.
Also of recent, the Buhari’s administration newly introduced TraderMoni was seen by critics as moves by the ruling party to get more support and votes in the 2019 general elections.
But speaking on why the government is focusing on the welfare of the common man through TraderMoni and other programmes, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo last week Tuesday in Jigawa State, said, “Mr President’s sole concern is that the resources of our country must be used for the man and woman who need it the most, the people in our society who are working hard, the
farmers, the traders, and all of the young people who need jobs, that is the focus of Mr. President’s entire economic policy.
“It is on giving the common man hope so that they can live decent lives, they can provide shelter for themselves, feed and live well.
“If the money of our people was not stolen, there would be enough for us to do what we want to do, the money that we make as a country must not be stolen by a few people.
“Under the Trader Moni Scheme, we are giving 2million people across Nigeria, N10,000 collateral-free loans with the possibility of increasing the amount within six months.
“Here in Jigawa, we have given 30,000 petty traders and only today, we gave extra 2,000 to 5,000 traders, and all together, we have given about 35,000 people the loans in Jigawa alone.
“We also have the Market Moni scheme which is another initiative for traders that are bigger than the petty traders and we start from N50,000 to N350,000.
“This is the state where we have given the largest number of people, we have given 37,000 beneficiaries in this state, and every month these people receive the transfers.”
“Under the School feeding programme, 434,000 children are being fed every day as 4000 cooks have been engaged to prepare the meals while 14,368 graduates have been engaged under the N-Power job creation scheme.
“The Jigawa State Government is supporting all of the Federal Government programmes, it has given out motorcycles to those supervising the various programmes, it has also given them 100 android phones,” he added.
Not done with its people-oriented programmes, the Buhari’s administration again last Saturday announced that it will soon compensate farmers and fishermen in the country, who were adversely affected by flooding which resulted from heavy rainfall during the year.
In a message to Farmers’ Day 2018 held on Saturday at Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa State, and organized by Nigeria AGIP Oil Company for farmers in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Imo States, the President stated “Two weeks ago, the National Food Security Council met and we approved a compensation package for all flood impacted farmers and fishermen.
“I want to assure all flood affected farmers and fishermen that you will be helped.
“This government is with you in your time of need. As I speak to you now, the modalities for this compensation programme are being finalized and very soon, we shall start implementation,” he said.
Recognising youths’ important roles in agricultural development as bedrock of the economy, the President added “Our future economic prosperity hinges to a large extent on how we modernize and expand our agriculture.
“Youths account for some 62% of our population. This group, full of energy and drive, are the catalyst that will steer Nigeria in the direction that will make us realize our full potential.
“For many years, our God-given resources have been abandoned, under-utilized or mismanaged. This is very apparent in the field of agriculture. In the past three years, we aggressively pushed the agricultural agenda with special emphasis on youth empowerment.
“Across many value chains, we are supporting meaningful projects in partnership with private sector players. This is the only way Nigeria can feed itself in a sustainable manner.
“We are working very hard to enable the youths actively participate in this agricultural revolution, and I take this opportunity to congratulate you all on responding positively to this call.
“Floods are a natural phenomenon that man cannot control. I want to appeal
to you all not to be dispirited, but to rise to the challenges,” he said.
While all these goodies are expected by a majority of Nigerians to materialise soon, there are also claims in some quarters that the government is also planning to crash the pump price of petrol in the country.
Bringing down the price significantly until the proposed refineries become operational, whether for political reasons or otherwise, will really go a long way to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians.
This is because many businesses’ costs have skyrocketed with the increased of pump price of petrol to maximum ceiling of N145 per litre, among other factors.
But it is really hoped that all these poverty alleviation measures and those to come later will live beyond the 2019 general elections.
The welfare of Nigerians, at all times, should always be the ultimate aim of any government.