The National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) has expressed its readiness to provide scholarships to the 32 minors who have just regained their freedom months after their arrest for protesting against bad governance in Nigeria.
NAPPS has expressed it’s willingness to facilitate the continuation of the children’s secondary education.
These minors were part of a group of 76 defendants facing charges of treasonable felony in a Federal High Court in Abuja, following protests against economic hardships that escalated into violence in various regions of the country from August 1 to 10, 2024.
However, during a press conference held in Lagos on Tuesday, NAPPS Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Alhaji Abdulmumuni Kundak, conveyed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for the minors’ release.
He underscored the importance of education in fostering national unity and equipping the youth for a more promising future in the nation.
He said, “On behalf of NAPPS members nationwide, we use this opportunity to appreciate the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for the release of the detained 32 minors arrested during the #EndBadGovernance protests. In response to that, the leadership of NAPPS Nigeria is prepared to grant the affected minors scholarships up to secondary school level.
“We also applaud the President on the newly released entrepreneurship curriculum for pupils in vasic schools. The need for skill acquisition for the development of Nigeria cannot be overemphasized.”
He stressed that the association would collaborate with relevant agencies to verify the details of the minors, saying it would help to determine their classes.
“We have tasked ourselves that depending on where they exist, if they are from Lagos, they will be given a place to study in Lagos. If there are people from Bauchi, some of them will have a place to study free of charge. This is something we are doing. We will liaise with the authorities concerned to give us the list of those people and confirm if they have not finished primary and secondary schools,” he said.
In his address, the association’s National President, Chief Abayomi Otubela, commended efforts of the new Board of Trustees approved by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), warning private schools’ owners operating below standard to desist.
“We expect a situation where excellence is our standard, where there is no room for mediocrity. We expect a situation where the respect for rule of law is paramount in our association, where a board of trustees will set an agenda and will be able to stand by it,” he said.
