Gịnị mere mahadum Naịjirịa ji aga n'ihu na-enwe mkpọsa ọrụ, gịnị ka ị ga-eme iji gbochie ụmụ akwụkwọ ịla n'iyi afọ ndụ ha?

Honours In 1982, at the unusually young age of 36, Atiku was appointed to the enviable position of Turaki Adamawa, a position of honour, and a position of high responsibility. Since then accolades have been bestowed on him from various monarchs across the six geo-political zones of the country. He holds the following titles: • Waziri of Adamawa (Adamawa Emirate) • Zege Mule U Tiv (Tiv Nation, Benue State), "Great Shelter of the Tiv Nation", conferred on 27 May 2001 • Sardauna of Ganye (Adamawa State) • Maiyedero of Lagos • Ekwueme of Anambra • Atayese of Ijeshaland • Zanna Zantaelma of Borno • Zanna Kawaskima of Yobe • Shettima of Biu (Borno State) • Suka of Ogoniland • Unuamani of Adamawa • Baagbile of Oke Ona Egba, Egbaland • Omekaojuora of Igbuzo • Otun Balogun of Mopaland • Nwanne Di na Mba of Ngor-Okpala (Imo State) • Enyioha Ndigbo In June 2017, he was elevated Waziri Adamawa, second in command only to the Lamido of Adamawa; the Waziri is one of the highest offices of the Adamawa Emirate and a senior kingmaker. On becoming Waziri he relinquished the title of Turaki Adamawa, which passed to his son, Aliyu. Rotary International and the National Peace Corps Association of the United States have recognised the former Vice President for matching his passion with his purse. In 2011, the National Peace Corps Association made him the first recipient of its Harris Wofford Global Citizen Award, for his contribution to democracy and to higher education in Africa. "No private business man in Africa has worked harder for democracy or contributed more to higher education than Atiku Abubakar," his citation read. (Source: National Peace Corps Association, https://www.peacecorpsconnect.org/cpages/wofford-award-winners) He is a Foundation Fellow of St Antony's College, University of Oxford (Source: St Antony's College, https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-atiku-abubakar/). On 30 June 2013, the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Switzerland, conferred on him an honorary doctorate in Diplomacy and International Relations. Atiku has also been honoured by a number of Nigerian universities: • PhD Honoris Causa, University of Maiduguri • PhD Honoris Causa, University of Calabar • PhD Honoris Causa, Igbinedion University, Okada • PhD Honoris Causa, Federal University of Technology, Yola • PhD Honoris Causa, Imo State University, Owerri • PhD Honoris Causa, Bayero University, Kano • PhD Honoris Causa, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun

Q31: Why do Nigerian universities continue to experience strikes, and what will you do to prevent students from repeatedly losing academic time? Answer: To end ASUU strikes, I propose granting genuine financial and administrative autonomy to public universities, I will set up sustainable university endowment funds, and honoring all signed labor agreements. Q32: How will you ensure children in underserved communities gain access to computers, digital skills and the education required for the modern economy? Answer: My policy integrates digital literacy into the primary school curriculum and builds solar- powered ICT laboratories in public schools through partnerships with private technology companies. Q33: How will you make education inclusive for children with disabilities and other children who need additional support?

The continued increase in tariffs in different service offerings without addressing the corruption and inefficiencies in the system only amounts to long-suffering Nigerians subsidising the corruption and inefficiencies in the system. Since the days of legendary, Pa. Michael Imoudu, to later day fire brands such as Pascal Bafyau and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the Nigerian worker has been at the forefront of the fight against tyranny and bad governance. No administration in our history has trampled workers' rights like this one. Daily, workers face uncertainty over skyrocketing prices of essential goods. The Nigerian worker has had it so rough under this current administration and it is unfortunate that while the living conditions of the Nigerian worker remains at a miserably low ebb, the Nigerian government continues to regale its international audiences with tales of how the masses are being weaned of their wasteful dependence on government.

I have been well briefed on how Nigerian students under the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) have been abandoned abroad. The BEA is a scholarship scheme that began in 1993 and was revitalised in 1999. It allows Nigerian students to pursue undergraduate and postgraduate studies in various countries through agreements between Nigeria and those nations. However, under the @officialABAT administration, the BEA scholarship programme, a bridge between Nigeria and the world, has been quietly discontinued without notice to the parents/wards of the students and without any consideration for their education. I am informed that what was initially described as a temporary five-year suspension soon metamorphosed into outright abandonment, leaving about 1,600 young Nigerians stranded abroad with empty pockets and fading hope. Their pleas are simple and desperate: pay the stipends owed, now more than $6,000 per student. Yet from the corridors of power came a cold, technocratic explanation: scarce public funds must be managed “responsibly,” and money meant to keep these students alive abroad should instead be redirected home. In that reasoning, the humans behind the figures dissolved into abstractions, and duty was sacrificed on the altar of convenience.

Do not exchange four years of your future for one afternoon of inducement. Fellow Nigerians, and most importantly, the young Nigerians gathered here today, the heartbeat of our nation, and those following this programme across the length and breadth of our country, perhaps checking their phones to see whether I am trending yet, good morning. Look at me. Look closely. I have spent the better part of my life fighting for democracy, justice and the progress of our beloved country. Time has given me experience, but it has not diminished my conviction. The fire that inspired me as a young student activist still burns today because every day I see millions of young Nigerians denied opportunities that should have been theirs. I stand before you today not merely as a former Vice President or an elder statesman, but as a lifelong democrat who has never stopped believing that Nigeria can become the great nation its people deserve.

The good news for Nigerian students is that Atiku has reviewed the current student-loan policy and believes education should not begin with a mountain of debt hanging over a young Nigerian’s future. His approach will reduce the underlying cost of education and, after review, provide forgiveness for qualifying student debts so that young Nigerians can graduate with hope rather than repayment burdens. Education should open doors, not mortgage the future. A student loan is not a scholarship. It is a liability. The proper test of an education policy is whether ordinary families can educate their children without being pushed into debt merely to keep them in school. When students increasingly require loans because the underlying cost of education has become prohibitive, government should not parade the loan itself as evidence that the system is working. And your attempt to frighten students and workers by claiming that Atiku’s targeted and capped production support will somehow destroy NELFUND, reduce salaries or reverse the minimum wage is a fallacious claim without a ledger behind it. If your government has the arithmetic, Bola, publish it. Show Nigerians, line by line, how a transparently budgeted subsidy tied to Nigerian crude and domestic refining suddenly empties NELFUND or workers’ pay packets.