By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
Minister of Education Mallam Adamu Adamu has said he does not know if higher institutions in the country will be shut down during the 2023 general election to enable eligible students travel to where they registered during the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last year to collect their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) to vote for their preferred candidates.
Prompt News reports that the
National Association of Nigerian Students, (NANS), had urged the federal government to let higher institutions in the country go on break for the students who registered during the CVR to collect their PVCs and also vote in the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections and March 11, 2023 elections.
NANS Vice President, External Affairs, Comrade Akinteye Babatunde Afeez, had last weekend in a press release made available to journalists, stated that if the step is not taken, over four million registered students would be disenfranchised and denied the opportunity to cast their votes during the polls.
Afeez noted that since the government had agreed to extend the collection of PVCs, by a week, students should not be denied the opportunity to collect their cards and to vote to choose Nigeria’s next President after President Muhammadu Buhari.
The statement read: “Subsequent to the extension of the deadline for the collection of Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) till Sunday, February 5, 2023, and considering the fact that the general elections will commence in few weeks’ time, the Office of the NANS Vice President (External Affairs) calls on the Federal Government of Nigeria to immediately close all tertiary institutions temporarily to afford students the opportunity to collect their PVCs from their Local Government Areas and vote in the elections”.
NANS demand has since received support from the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi who has pleaded the Federal Government to consider the demands of NANS in order not to disenfranchised millions of Nigerian students who are eligible and eager to vote in the forthcoming general election.
But Adamu has revealed that he does not know if schools will be shut down because of the elections, saying federal government has not taken position on the demands of NANS.
He told Prompt News after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday, he cannot give any answer if schools will be shut down because of the elections.
Said he: “I cannot say if schools will be closed because of the elections. How did you get the figure of students that registered to vote in the elections? For now I will not be able to say if schools will be shut down because of the elections”.
