Sewing Machines, Freezers, and a New Passport System: NANS Commends Tunji-Ojo’s Reforms

The National Association of Nigerian Students, South-West Zone D, has praised Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo for initiatives it says are giving young Nigerians practical tools for economic independence while also improving public services.

The students’ body particularly pointed to Tunji-Ojo’s support for youth entrepreneurship and the ongoing overhaul of Nigeria’s passport system.

The commendation follows the Students to CEO Entrepreneurship Summit held in Akure, Ondo State, where beneficiaries received business equipment intended to help them start or expand small enterprises.

From students to entrepreneurs

The summit was built around a simple idea: students should not graduate into a queue waiting for government jobs.

NANS South-West said the intervention demonstrated the value of giving young people productive tools rather than limiting empowerment to speeches and political promises.

Among the items provided to beneficiaries were industrial sewing machines, freezers, generators and other equipment capable of supporting small-scale businesses.

NANS South-West Coordinator Adeyemo Josiah Kayode, popularly known as Billioncodes, said the initiative should serve as a model for other elected and appointed public officials.

The association has called on governors, lawmakers and other public office holders to replicate interventions that can translate into actual businesses, jobs and income.

That distinction is important.

Empowerment must produce something
Nigeria has witnessed countless empowerment programmes over the years. The recurring problem is what happens after the photographs and ceremonies.

A sewing machine can become a business.
A freezer can become a food or drinks venture.
A generator can keep a small workshop running.

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But equipment becomes meaningful only when the beneficiary has access to electricity, markets, finance, skills and an environment in which the business can survive.

That is why the real measure of youth empowerment should ultimately be what happens six months or one year after distribution.

Are businesses still operating? Are beneficiaries employing others? Are their incomes rising?
Are they less dependent on government?

Those are harder questions than taking photographs at an empowerment event.

Passport reform

NANS has also praised the Interior Ministry’s reforms in passport processing. The ministry says the Nigeria Immigration Service has moved from a system involving 96 decentralised passport personalisation centres towards a single secure, centralised passport production system designed to improve efficiency and security.

Passport applicants have long complained about delays, cumbersome processes and difficulties accessing travel documents. Centralisation is therefore intended to improve standardisation and reduce weaknesses in the old system.

But centralisation also creates its own responsibility. If everything is brought into one system, that system must remain reliable.

A technical failure, backlog or administrative bottleneck can affect applicants across the country at once. The reform will therefore be judged not simply by its architecture but by the experience of the Nigerian who applies for a passport.

Can the applicant submit documents easily? Can appointments be obtained without unnecessary delays? Can passports be produced on time?
Can citizens receive clear information when problems occur?

Those are the questions that matter at the service-delivery level.

Young Nigerians want outcomes

NANS’s commendation comes at a time when youth unemployment, underemployment and the cost of living remain major concerns. The student body’s message is therefore bigger than praise for one minister.

It is a challenge to government at every level. Young Nigerians do not need empowerment that ends with a banner. They need opportunities that survive beyond the ceremony. They need skills that can earn income. They need institutions that work.

They need public services that respect their time.
And when government reforms produce those outcomes, they deserve to be measured by them. ValidViewNetwork reports.