The order given by President Bola Tinubu to release the minors from the northern states, including Kano and Kaduna, that were arraigned for treason is a commendable effort. It is high time for the government to think outside the box and consider sponsoring these underage persons who were arraigned after participating in the hunger protests of August 10.
I call on the Ministry of Education and the Presidency to offer full scholarships to those minors.
If immediate past president Muhammadu Buhari accepted and recognised repentant Boko Haram members despite their engagement in terrorism activities, killing many Nigerians and offered them full scholarships to study abroad, I think that these minors who only carried flags during the hunger protest, but were held for about three months without proper treatment that led some of them to starve to death, deserve a scholarship from the government.
Those minors waved Russian flags because they were not adequately aware of the consequences of such acts. It is time for the Federal Government to provide adequate and accessible basic needs to citizens such as education and food in order to avert further protests.
The Federal Government needs to critically examine such issues and pay special attention to addressing them. Children are supposed to be in school, not participating in a protest.
The column written by Farooq Kperogi on August 3 is great content that government, stakeholders and well-meaning individuals should revisit and utilise the five lessons he outlined and re-adjust their style of leadership in order to make changes for the betterment of the young future leaders and the nation at large.
Majority of these children don’t have access to good education because of economic challenges. Giving scholarships to these children, I’m confident, is the only way to change their lives for the better.
Grace Donatus, Department of Mass Communication, Borno State University.
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