The governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, has authorized the release of N299 million to cover all of the index students’ 2023 National Examination Council (NECO) fees in the state’s public secondary schools.
Barrister Ibrahim Kashim, the secretary to the state government (SSG), revealed this yesterday in Bauchi while interacting with journalists. He claimed that the governor had also authorized the payment of over N15 million in UTME (Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination) fees for 2,365 candidates who had recently passed a mock exam.
According to Ibrahim, the gesture was made to encourage the students’ pursuit of education in order to secure their future. Under his administration’s Education Development Initiative, the governor was also able to offset a backlog of NECO fees totaling over N800 million, he continued
On her part, the commissioner for education, Dr Jamila Muhammad Dahiru noted that the state government has approved the establishment of Emirate Council Committee on Education in a bid to reduce the rate of out of school children across the state.
Dahiru explained that membership of the committee which include traditional title holders, civil society organizations and development partners are to deepen advocacy on the need to enroll more pupils into schools.