Former Education Minister and SODELPA MP Aseri Radrodro has supported the call from President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere on the need for our people to understand and practice financial literacy as he said that there are certain habits we Fijians must quickly unlearn, and one of them is to live from payday to payday.
While responding to the President’s address in Parliament, Radrodro says the importance of financial literacy has long been recognized by previous governments and notably, the establishment of institutions like the Fijian Holdings Limited, EIMCOL, the building of Provincial Council-owned buildings, like the Ratu Cakobau House, Ro Lalabalavu House, Namosi House, Macuata House, Takayawa Building and others were established to promote prudent financial investments for the indigenous people.
He says our friends like the Indo-Fijians and Chinese are some of the best in financial management, and it would augur well for us to learn from them how to save for the rainy day and how to establish a side hustle at home apart from people’s 8am to 4.30pm job.
The former Education Minister says so many civil servants retire without building or owning homes, and by the time they retire, they use their retirement funds to build their homes.
He adds, as a result, they deplete their funds meant to look after them in their old age, thus rendering them vulnerable to poverty, sickness and other ailments.
Radrodro says he looks forward to the day Fijian Holdings and other similar financial institutions will encourage our people to practice financial literacy and teach their children to do the same - from having voluntary FNPF accounts as soon as they can; to having life insurance policies or investments stashed away.
He says that he is happy to report that Financial Literacy was identified as a crucial part of our National Learning to be included in the school curriculum, and this forms part of the recommendations from the National Education Summit held in Denarau last year.
Radrodro also urges the Government to review its position with respect to the Israel-Hamas war currently occurring as it is crucial that Fiji prioritizes the lives of our men and women serving as peacekeepers in predominantly the Middle East- and retain our global recognition as peacekeepers promoting global peace.
Radrodro also told the Members of Parliament that there were a lot of challenges faced by the Fiji National University when he was the Minister of Education.
He says one thing he was certain of is that it was his job to protect the stability of the Coalition Government and the stability of our economic environment where adverse publicity and instability means the ruling Government will be held responsible for its inability to show leadership and resolve potentially destructive incidents.
Radrodro says the current University of the South Pacific ongoing impasse with threats of a strike looming must be handled with precision and delicate management.
He says the fallout and backlash from such displays of instability threatens public confidence with potentially negative economic ramifications, and given the University is a regional institution, Fiji could face criticism that it has failed to safeguard the interests of the students of the University and that of the member countries who form the ownership of our South Pacific University.
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