Katsina Govt spends over N4bn on 399,550 SSCE candidates fees in 7 years -Commissioner

.Releases N1b for 2022 payment

BY ANDY ASEMOTA, Katsina

Dr. Badamasi Lawal, the Katsina State Commissioner for Education, says the state government has released over one billion naira for the payment of this year’s Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) fees of about 60,000 candidates sponsored by the government.

The commissioner, who made the disclosure yesterday in a media chat in Katsina, said the government will soon effect the payment of N1,082,146,300  as the WAEC, NECO, NABTEB and NBAIS enrollment fees for the affected candidates from all public secondary schools and community secondary schools in the state.

Giving a breakdown of the beneficiaries of the initiative under the present state administration’s free education policy, he said that over N4.234 billion had been spent on the payment of the SSCE fees of the government sponsored candidates between 2015 and 2021.

He added that the government subjected its candidates to qualifying examination before enrolling them, saying “anyone who obtains credits in five subjects or above including English and Mathematics in the qualifying examination, the government of Katsina pays his WAEC and NECO fees while the government pays only the NECO of the students with five credits in the examination.

“This year, the WAEC candidates are 15,718 but NECO candidates stands at 41,875 because this is where you have most average students.”

Responding to a question on the candidates’ performances, the commissioner said: “When this government came on board, it discovered that out of every 100 candidates that sat for SSCE in the state, only 19 of the passed at credit level.

“Between 2015 to date, seven years of examination, in every 100 candidates who sat for the SSCE, 75 per cent of them got five credits and above in any subject.

“This is a state that deserves to be praised. Governor Aminu Bello Masari administration has done excellent well in area of repositioning the education sector because the outcome of SSCE is a justification of whether a government is doing well or not.”

Dr. Lawal however expressed concern that the performances of the ministry of education and the state government were been misrepresented by some individuals and groups for selfish interests.

“It is a misrepresentation of Governor Masari’s success in the education sector, it’s a misrepresentation of the true situation in the ministry of education, and it’s a misrepresentation of what students and parents know about the performance of our candidates in SSCE,” he stressed.

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