Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has instructed those in charge of providing palliative care to devise a plan for expanding the service to include students attending tertiary institutions inside the state.
The governor announced the directive during an emergency State Executive Council meeting in Lafia over the weekend. He acknowledged the program’s success in the state and stated that palliative distribution will continue, with tertiary institution students being the primary beneficiaries.
He said there was the urgent need to extend the gesture to them as the prevailing hardship was affecting every segment of the society.
He said the gesture would greatly reduce the burden on parents who are also battling to pay the school fees.
“To continue with the palliatives, we have to discuss what to do with the students. Students, especially in tertiary institutions are yet to benefit from the palliatives, especially during this month of Ramadan. We need to probably go to the tertiary institutions,” he stated.
He urged the appropriate state organs to find a way of identifying the students and reaching out to them accordingly.
The governor equally spoke on the need for the state to support final year secondary school students, stressing that he had already directed the commissioner for education, Hon. John Mamman, to address it.
He commended the state palliative distribution committee chaired by the deputy governor, Dr Emmanuel Akabe, for the success of the initiative so far, as well as the commissioner for special duties, humanitarian, social services and NGOs, Hon. Magret Elayo, for her efforts.
