One year after inception, the Nigerian Students and Youth Corps Discount Card, otherwise known as ‘Naija Green Card’ has remained a veritable social safety net for Corps members and students in higher institutions, just as it affords them opportunities to pay for wide-range of items and services from designated merchants at discounted rates.
Reacting to this laudable feat, the initiator of Naija Green Card, Hon Bimbo Daramola said he started the initiative after his exit from the parliament, adding that the scaring number of unemployed motivated him to try to do his little bit by ensuring that impressionable demography has options, opportunities, and ultimately sure protection against vagaries of socio-economic challenges. This according to him is the picture that led to the Nigerian Students and Youth Corps Discount Card.
Narrating the success further, Hon Daramola stated, ‘‘Naija Green Card has thoroughly responded to a number of prevailing economic realities confronting our serving corps members and students in our tertiary institutions, and I am not boasting at all. Everybody knows that our country is going through a very tough time right now. There are basic economic realities that nobody can run away from. There are job losses, pay cuts, unemployment and shrinking income. Where income is not shrinking, the purchasing power is shrinking. These are the features of our economic reality.
‘‘We realize that the most vulnerable demography out of the estimated 170 million Nigerians are the youths, the ones in higher institutions and those on the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme. As a result of the economic downturn, parents can no longer provide the kind of funds needed to sustain their kids at schools, in spite of the fact that the expenses the students are exposed to have not reduced. How do you help the students to ensure they keep afloat in spite of the dwindling resources from their parents or sponsors?
‘’Answering this more directly is that, our integrated and automated platform has consistently helped them to access virtually any kind of expenditure they make. Our partners, in line with best international practice provide discount on goods and services that are patronized by the valued card holders. The items affected are all-embracing, from food and transportation, entertainment to health etc. Our platform is continuously mitigating their economic problems, and we are encouraging more students and serving corps members to take advantage of our platform s asto benefit maximally from the special discounts our partners are providing for students and other eligible youths who patronize them. Well over 10,000 Nigerian youths are currently benefiting from this innovation; similarly we have more than 40 employees spread across 28 states in Nigeria.’’
Meanwhile in the last one year, barrage of commendations and endorsements have trailed Naija Green Card’s triumph of will over wish by high profile Nigerians who genuinely place high premium on human capital development, capacity building and youth empowerment and have impressively added more impetus to the generic essence of the discount. For example, Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal did not only endorse Naija Green Card, but also facilitated Memorandum of Understanding between the initiator of Naija Green Card and the state government, an indication that the Governor means business in making education the foundation of the state’s development architecture.
For the records, Governor Tambuwal is consistently dealing successfully with free distribution of Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) forms worth millions of naira to indigent students seeking admission into various tertiary institutions across the country and ensuring prompt payment of school fees for indigenes of the state who are studying in various institutions in Nigeria and abroad.
Former Vice President of Nigeria and Turaki of Adamawa, Alhaji Atiku Abubarka was also not left out in the endorsement of Naija Green Card. Judging from his love for youth empowerment Alhaji Atiku once said that it is education that took him from a small village in Adamawa to the position that he have attained today and helped him to make modest contributions that he has made so far to Nigeria and humanity. ”I could not have gone to school if my parents were to pay for it and that is why I strongly believe that primary and secondary education should be free and compulsory in our country and indeed across Africa. What education has done for me and my commitment to it is the reason why my biggest philanthropic endeavor has been in the field of education. In the educational village that I established in Yola, our focus is not just providing students with high quality education from kindergarten to university, we are also focused on providing them with the skills to become leaders in their various communities and countries.” The former VP said.
Hon Bimbo Daramola however reassured actual and potential subscribers of his discount card company that he and his team in an unrepentant zeal will continue to make life more meaningful and qualitative to young Nigerians by ensuring that an integrated and systemic discount culture is sustained in Nigeria with the capacity to drive welfarist instincts. In his view, ”Individual businesses in the past have different categories of discounts and loyalty packages for specific products and services, but now our integrated, systemic platform warehouses thousands of such disparate entities to offer the vulnerable demography starting out with the students and the youth corps members. Today, we are delighted that the Nigerian Students and Youth Corp Discount Card in only one year has proved to be a succour to our card holders with huge partner’s base and we are committed to do more by deepening our milestones as we journey further.’’
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