Kogi State House of Assembly has directed the state’s Ministry of Education to pay into the coffers of the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) the sum of N497.3 million, released to it by the administration of Governor Yahaya Bello, latest by December 30th, 2023.
LEADERSHIP reports that Governor Bello had released the N497.3m to the ministry to settle the West Africa Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) of students in the state’s public secondary school. WAEC is the body which organises the WASSCE.
This directive to pay the money into WAEC coffers was given by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Aliyu Umar Yusuf, to the state Commissioner of Education, Science and Technology, Mr Wemi Jones, when he appeared during the plenary sitting.
This was after he had cleared the air on the confusion caused by some school principals who were collecting WAEC fees and other levies despite the release of the funds by the state government.
On his part, Jones assured the House and Kogi State public that Gov. Bello had released the sum of N497.3m for the payment of WAEC fees for 15,033 students across the 21 Local Government Areas of the state.
He also disclosed that the released money was not missing but intact in the ministry’s account and it would not be released to any principal or school, adding that it would rather be released to WAEC before the closing date of January 28, 2024.
The commissioner warned principals and examination officers to desist from any act of criminality by asking students to make payments for WASSCE, PTA and any other levies.
He averred that education is free as far as Gov Bello and Kogi State are concerned, pointing out that principals, school heads, examination officers are not to collect any Kobo from any student for WASSCE or PTA levy.
Stressing that private schools are not included in the fee waiver, Jone disclosed that after the verification exercise to ascertain the true number of the students, it will be published school by school.
Mr Jones also pointed out that the fees for WASSCE in the state is N33,100 only for the year 2024. He warned private schools not to charge a kobo more.
He warned that any private school that charged a kobo more than the fixed fee would have the ministry to contend with.
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