BY ADEYEMI AKANJI, GOMBE – In a bid to drive academic excellence and cushion the financial hardships facing undergraduates, the Federal Government has distributed 25 high-end laptops to top-performing Computer Science and Computer Engineering students across the North-East region.
The Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Students Engagement, Comrade Sunday Asefon, presented the tech tools on Thursday during the Renewed Hope Student Leaders Engagement and Digital Acceleration Programme held in Gombe, saying the initiative is part of a broader presidency strategy to reward brilliant performances and accelerate digital literacy among Nigerian youths.
Addressing the gathering, Asefon reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to educational accessibility, declaring that financial constraints should no longer dictate a student’s academic destiny.
According to him, “No Nigerian student should abandon tertiary education because of financial hardship,” stressing further that the Federal Government is actively expanding support frameworks and creating fresh opportunities to ease the economic burden on students nationwide.
Comrade Asefon said: “Any student who has distinguished himself or herself in the course of study needs to be celebrated and encouraged”, explaining that his office had written to tertiary institutions across the North-East subregion requesting nominations of outstanding students in Computer Science and Computer Engineering.
Furthermore, he said: “What we are doing is for a student in Computer Engineering, Computer Science. I discovered the majority of them do not even have a laptop. But yet, they still distinguish themselves by leading in their departments.”
The Presidential Aide described the initiative as targeting students who had demonstrated academic excellence but lacked the resources to acquire personal computers, adding, “So, if such a student without a laptop is leading in a department of Computer Science or Computer Engineering, if such a student has access to his own personal laptop, I can assure you that in the next few years, we will have a Bill Gates among them”.
He said to ensure the laptops reached students who would use them productively, the Federal Government partnered directly with school administrations with School leaders requested to select their top-performing Computer Science and Computer Engineering students as the 25 beneficiaries.
Comrade Asefon said by targeting outstanding scholars, the government aimed to tie the tech intervention directly to academic excellence and genuine innovation, stressing that, “We are giving them, like I have said, based on selection. We wrote to the management of their schools, asking the management to send an outstanding student in Computer Engineering and Computer Science.”
He added that the Federal Government is deliberately linking the intervention to academic excellence and innovation rather than simply distributing computers without considering their impact.
“We don’t want to just empower students who do not need that empowerment. We are celebrating academic excellence and supporting students who have distinguished themselves in the course of their study,” he said.
The Presidential Aide said students who were leading their departments despite lacking laptops often depended on smartphones to carry out academic tasks, noting that, “Some of them who are best students, who are outstanding students in Computer Science and Computer Engineering, do not even have their own personal laptop. Most of the work they do, they do it on their phones.”
Comrade Asefon expressed confidence that student beneficiaries would not sell their newly acquired laptops, believing they would fully utilize them to advance their education, even as he linked the distribution to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which aims to empower young Nigerians by fostering an enabling environment for growth.
Also highlighting federal interventions like the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), he lauded the initiative as a historic step that expands access to tertiary education by systematically removing financial barriers, explaining that, “Having access to a laptop, I’m sure such students will not sell because they know the value of what we are giving to them. And I’m sure they will put it to use, 100 per cent,” he said.
“The objective is clear. No Nigerian should be forced to abandon education simply because their family cannot afford the cost,” Asefon stated, urging students to embrace Technical and Vocational Education and Training, digital skills, artificial intelligence and entrepreneurship, saying education should prepare young people for economic independence.
Challenging students in the North-East to take advantage of technology to overcome geographical limitations and compete with their peers across the country and globally, he said: “Education is not only about certificates. It is also about skills, innovation, entrepreneurship and the ability to earn a decent livelihood. Your location must never determine your destiny. Being a student in the North-East should not limit your dreams”
He urged them to use their smartphones and the internet to discover opportunities, learn digital skills, build businesses and develop solutions to problems in their communities, with the student leaders charged to serve as a bridge between government and students.Tasking
Tasking students leaders to keep their colleagues informed about scholarships, NELFUND opportunities, skills programmes and other interventions, Comrade Asefon said: “Leadership is not about holding a position. Leadership is about service, responsibility and impact.”
The Presidential Aide, while pledging that his office would consistently engage with students to ensure their concerns reach government discussions, emphasized bridging the gap between leadership and youth by creating an accessible channel for students to report and resolve grievances.
The event also featured goodwill messages from key government agencies, including NELFUND and the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) among others.
