Voiceless Pains of Nigerian Students

By Abdussamad Yahya Sufi

It seems like Nigerian students, particularly those in tertiary institutions, lack the mouthpiece to express their dissatisfactions with the present-day conditions in the country. Their stone-cold silence has made their wordless tribulations to remain unheard. Given the ongoing instability of the Naira, as it experiences fluctuations in its value, I can say the students bear the brunt for the most part.

Ever since the Federal Government initiated the removal of the fuel subsidy, events that followed include tertiary institutions increasing their registration fees, which was partly due to the government's neglect and which many students could not afford to pay. Inasmuch as there are deserving students who are on scholarships or attend schools through public fundraising, there are those who can't afford to pay the fees and strive to make ends meet while others who have no choice, drop out of schools or do an inter-faculty transfer to other departments with lower fees to at least get a university degree.

However, there are also students who can afford their registrations but can't resume school due to a lack of enough money to feed themselves and pay other extra charges of their faculties and departments. There are also those who left after they resumed, all due to the inflation hardships caused since the emergence of President Tinubu's administration.

Let me be more precise. Floating the naira caused the currency to crash. The prices of products have increased to the extent that they cannot be afforded by students. This includes both food and other daily necessities. The cost of transportation, books, reading materials, and many other essentials have made students unable to perform their academic assessments effectively unlike before, and even made some students unable to do their assessments. 

It's obvious that if students are not financially comfortable, they can't perform well in their academics, and for this, I have some suggestions that should be considered by the government, institutions, and the public.

Both federal and state governments should create a policy that simplifies the way institutions are run. This should be on every public utility in the institutions, which shouldn't be paying the same bill as the general public pays, including electricity and water. That would make the institutions decrease the amounts they collect from their students to run school activities. Additionally, the ministries of education should provide enough essential academic materials and techniques for both the staff and students, so that they won't need to buy them themselves.

Also, the schools should consider the transportation vehicles and business centres to decrease the amount they collect from them for rent and other bills. The schools should, however, instruct them to decrease their service prices, especially the cafe centres. It's also helpful if the school considers providing more part-time jobs for students that won't distract their studies.

To the general public, well, their palliatives and fundraising programs should reach students more. I suggest each community should consider fundraising among themselves by ascertaining the number of students in the community and the tertiary institutions they attend to create a strong scholarship program for them to ease life. It's not all the time that their children will depend on the scholarship by the government, organizations, or politicians; each household in the community should give what they can afford.

Hopefully, by implementing this, the Nigerian government, organizations, public, and institutions will reduce the challenges faced by the students, especially those who live within campuses.