Follow Us on Google
• As Governor orders release of N30million monthly payment to the Examination body
From John Adams, Minna
The Niger state government and the National Examination Council (NECO) have reached an agreement on modality for the payment of N500million accumulated debt owed the examination body for registration of indigent candidates for its Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (SSCE).
To this end, the state governor, Rt. Hon. Umar Mohammed Bago has approved a standing order of N30million monthly payment to the examination body with a view to off-set the N500million debts, spanning eight years from 2015 to 2023.
Recalled that the National Examination Council has withheld the results of SSCE internal of all the indigent candidates, including the non-indigent candidates whose parents paid for them following the huge debt owed the examination body the state government, and this has led to many indigent candidates missing their admission into tertiary institutions in the country.
But the state commissioner for information and strategies, Hon Binta Mamman, while briefing newsmen in Minna on Monady on the achievements of the government in the last four months in office, disclosed that the state government has so far paid N120million out of the N500million following an agreement reached between the government and the examination body.
The commissioner pointed out that the debts were owed by the previous administration which led to the examination body withholding the SSCE results of all the candidates from the state, adding it is part of the administration’s commitment to educational transformation and of youth development in the state.
According to her, the four months in office which coincided with the nation’s independence has been very eventful for the administration, adding that apart from the payment of the debt owed the examination body, the administration has kick started it policy trust of a “new Niger” with a number of other achievements which includes the distribution of 20 operational vehicles to security agencies in the state to enable them patrol nocks and crannies of the state capital following the rising wave of crimes and youth restiveness, the signing of contracts for the rehabilitation of Minna township roads and the construction of Bida rig roads, and the repairs of the failed section of the Bida-Minna highway.
Other achievements of the government she pointed out also include the signing of N30.5 billion contract for the conversion of Shiroro hotel to Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Teaching Hospital (IBBUTH), the re-design and development of the three arm zone abandoned since 2013 and the approval of N3.5billion for the payment of compensation for the construction of Minna-Bida highway.
“All of these are aside from the numerous National and International engagements the governor has had with various private and government institutions, international organizations and investors aimed at realizing the “New Niger” agenda of the administration”.
Hon. Binta pointed out that in realizing the agenda of the administration; the governor has told all his lieutenants that it will not be business as usual “and must come out of their comfort zone as the task of setting Niger state on a path of sustainable development is enormous”.
