Governor Ododo Spends N1.3bn On WAEC, NECO, Others

Kogi State governor, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo, yesterday revealed that his administration has expended over N1.3 billion for  the payment of West African Examination Council, (WAEC), National Examination Council and Basic Examination Council fees for students in public schools.

The governor who stated this during the launch of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT)  for adolescent girls in primary and secondary schools under the World Bank-supported Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) Project, said the state is also investing the sum of N500 million under the CCT project.

The governor warned both parents and the children not to divert the money for purposes other than the education of their girl child, assuring that the state government will keep a close monitoring on the usage of the fund.

He explained that “Each girl child supported by the AGILE project is going to receive the sum of N40, 000 each in addition to another N10,000 termly payment, for the payment of their school fees.

“The money also covered a total of 14,000 adolescent children across the state. Let me warn that this money, as earlier declared by the AGILE Project Coordinator, Tijani Oricha,  is not to be used to play Bet Naija, or for their parents to marry another wife. It’s strictly for the education of the girl child,” the governor warned.

The state coordinator, Ahmed Tijani Oricha, noted that the AGILE Project is anchored on three core components.

According to Oricha, component one deals with Creating Safe and Accessible Learning, focusing on expanding infrastructure, including building new classrooms, renovating existing ones, and ensuring facilities are safe, girl-friendly, and inclusive, especially for those with disabilities.

He added that the second component is Fostering Enabling Environment for Learning, which involves programmes that promote life skills, digital literacy, social and emotional learning

In addition he said “It also includes campaigns, community engagement, and policy reforms that reduce barriers to girls’ education. The third Component deals with Project Management, Monitoring, and Evaluation, to ensure effective coordination, transparency, accountability, timely delivery of results through strong monitoring systems and institutional capacity building,” he stressed.