August 18, 2025 – The Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Tanko Sununu, has said that the President Bola Tinubu administration remains strongly committed to addressing poverty and improving the lives of vulnerable Nigerians.
Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Sununu explained the federal government’s position following the recent protest by students of a federal school for the blind in Lagos, which led to the closure of access roads to both the international and local wings of the airport.
“Yes, I think I was in Lagos. It was a really unfortunate situation. I was in Lagos that day. It was really hectic. The commander of the commissioner of police, director, everybody was there because they are really vulnerable people and they blocked the access to both international and local wings,” the minister said.
Sununu explained that as soon as the ministry was informed, he and the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Olubunmi Oluwaseun Kuku, quickly moved to Lagos to address the crisis.
“As soon as I heard that, we flew together with the MD of FAAN and we were in Lagos. I sat with them and God knows in less than one hour, we were able to understand ourselves and unblock the road and then access was established.”
The minister noted that the main concern was the condition of the school, which doubles as a skill acquisition center for persons with special needs. He revealed that the school had serious challenges that made the suspension of training necessary.
“What is the issue? The issue is the fact that really there were three issues or two I can say. One, the college was training, it’s a skill acquisition center so that they can also be empowered to act this thing. We realized that we asked our Permanent Secretary, who is now in education, to go for a visit. He visited the school. The condition of the school for people of special need, most especially blind people, is really not really acceptable. We are afraid that something more terrible may happen,” Sununu explained.
He added that the government had decided to suspend the training program at the school until better measures were put in place to upgrade both the training facilities and the living conditions.
“So we said, okay, in that case, we suspend the training until we put in measures to upgrade the standard in terms of what we have for training and even living conditions of the institution. We factored this into the 2025 budget,” he said.
According to him, while the decision was necessary for safety and improvement, the group that protested did not reach out to the ministry before staging their demonstration.
“Unfortunately, they’ve all agreed that they haven’t come to the ministry to confirm what has happened. They have not had any discussion with us. In fact, they called themselves alumni. I said, okay, all right. As alumni, you have the right to protect your institution. I can also do that. But the only thing we differ is your approach of blocking roads, denying other people rights,” Sununu said.
The minister also addressed concerns raised by the protesters about the conditional cash transfer program. He explained that many of them were not enrolled in the scheme due to lack of proper registration.
“There was a time when conditional cash transfer was being disbursed and they went and they were out. I said, okay, you see, the whole issue is doing this to understand it. And I told them, you did not get yourself enrolled. And your leadership did not tell them. And I said, okay, what do we do now? Get yourself enrolled and you’ll be given. And I will also have a grant coming,” Sununu explained.
He assured that the ministry had agreed to prioritize the enrollment of the affected persons in upcoming programs, including grants and other poverty reduction schemes.
“So we have agreed that definitely, we’ll give them, we’ll look at them closely, we’ll put it in order, we’ll prioritize them in the enrollment of whatever we are going to do. And every one of us are happy and they really realized that they couldn’t come to the ministry. And if they had come to the ministry and got things explained to them. Probably they wouldn’t have argued or acted,” he said.
Sununu expressed regret over the disruption caused to travelers at the Lagos airport during the protest. “And immediately the road was opened and I came back to Abuja. I want to apologize please to all the commuters of that day who suffered unnecessary hardship because of what happened. Please bear with the situation. And as a responsible ministry, we will always be up to the task in terms of acting immediately when we had challenges like that. We pray the challenges may not also occur,” the minister said.
He stressed that the Tinubu administration is fully committed to poverty alleviation, social investment, and welfare programs that protect vulnerable groups across the country.