President Goodluck Jonathan, on Saturday pledged to support the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies(NIPPS) financially to enable it achieve its research mandate.
Jonathan stated this during the graduation ceremony of Course 35 of NIPPS in Kuru, near Jos.
The President, who was represented by the Secretary of the Federation, Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim said that the government would make funds available to the institution to enable it meet its financial obligations.
“The Federal Government will surely come to the financial assistance of the institute so as to perform its statutory duties to the nation.
“The Federal Government will make funds available to improve the welfare package of the entire staff of the institution.
“The government will surely look inward and assist the institution with the funds to discharge its duties as a research institution but within our limited resources.”
He called on the staff of NIPPS to continue with the good work of producing technocrats for the nation.
The president called on Nigerians to support the National conversation as it had the capacity of solving the nation’s challenges through dialogue.
“All problems can be sorted out through dialogue and discussions all over the world and our case is not different from that of other people.
“My commitment on the national conversation is unshakable and we shall continue to solicit people’s advice and opinions for a better discussions,’’ he said.
Jonathan said that the security challenge and other challenges in the nation had been slowing down the transformation agenda.
“We are making steady progress to improve the welfare of our people. We are happy that Course 35 has in their documents, forwarded to the presidency documents that showed we are recording a lot of success in the transformation agenda.
“We shall also put our best to improve the welfare of all Nigerians citizens. We shall not leave any stone unturned to fight corruption in the public and private sector in the country,” the President said.
Earlier, the Director General of NIPPS, Prof. Tijjani Bade, called on the Federal Government to assist the institution with funds so as to perform their functions.
“This institution is in dire need of funds to run its affairs and meet all its financial obligations.
“We need funds to attract competent researchers to the institution, but our condition of service is challenging us.’’
The NIPPS Governing Board Chairman, Maj. Gen. Paul Omu, said that all the course participants had been cleared by the presidency for their graduation.
He explained that all NIPPS participants must be cleared by the presidency before they would be allowed to pass out.
Omu called on the graduating participants to use the experience they acquired in NIPPS to improve the well-being of Nigerians through good policy formulations.