By: John Bassey, Kebbi.
The Kebbi State Governor, Comrade Dr Nasir Idris, Kauran Gwandu, says only his state in Nigeria offers free education and scholarships to students studying within the country and foreign tertiary institutions.
Idris disclosed this during a courtesy visit by the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Students’ matters, Mr Asefor Sunday Dar, in Government House, Birnin Kebbi, on Thursday.
The SSA was accompanied by the National President, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Mr Olusola Oladejo.
The students were in Kebbi to inaugurate the newly elected executives of the Kebbi State National Students’ Association.
The governor told the visitors that he had paid about N2.7 billion to settle the tuition fees of both students studying within Nigeria and those studying in foreign countries.
“It might interest you to note that it is only Kebbi State that offers total free education in Nigeria. We pay tuition fees for all our students up to secondary and tertiary institutions.
“Recently, I paid N2.7 billion tuition fees for both students studying across tertiary institutions within and outside Nigeria. We offer total scholarships to our students, we are doing this to remove the stress and burden from the parents.
“Some parents may have more than three children in tertiary institutions. If the money is too much, some parents might not be able to shoulder the school fees especially in this period where many tertiary institutions have increased their tuition fees.
“That is why we deem it fit to shoulder the responsibility of free education, scholarships to all our students,” he said.
Idris added that the feeding money for students across boarding schools in the state had been increased from N150m to N300 million.
In line with his administration’s efforts to raise the standard of teaching and learning, the governor said the embargo on employment had been lifted, where about 5,000 qualified teachers were gainfully employed.
“To enhance the learning environment, my administration has rehabilitated 2,004 primary and secondary schools, while over 340 new ones were constructed,” he revealed.
Speaking on infrastructure, the governor lauded President Bola Tinubu for supporting the state to record tremendous achievements in road construction.
He cited the construction of 1,008-kilometer Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway as one of the legacy projects of Mr President, expressing happiness that Kebbi would be the major benefiting state with about 280 kilometres to be constructed.
While thanking Mr President for revoking the 87-kilometre Koko-Zuru road contract, the governor observed that the revocation had paved the way for Kebbi to execute the project for quick delivery and expected to be repaid later.
Idris also commended president Tinubu for his foresight to introduce students’ loans scheme which was not done before in the history of Nigeria, adding that his administration was replicating the president’s Renewed Hope Agenda in the state.
Earlier, the SSA to the president on students’ matters, commended the state government for implementing free education, full scholarships for students in the state.
On his part, the NANS national president applauded the state governor for the construction of four mega schools in the state which spread across the four emirates of the state.
