Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago has declared tuition-free education for the 809 newly admitted students of the Abdulkadir Kure University, Minna (AKUM).
During the Matriculation of 809 university students, the governor declared that the 2024/2025 academic session fees had been waived.
He also announced that 2% of the state’s total investment would be used as the university’s endowment.
The governor said the state was willing to develop initiatives to make the university blossom and become a model to others; hence, he had cancelled the decision to send students abroad on scholarship.
“It is not wrong for a leader to make a statement and retract it. We had a vision to take some students to a foreign land on scholarship, but today, I have cancelled that decision. I will rather invest the money budgeted for the foreign scholarship here,” he said.
He said a housing estate for staff and lecturers would be built, and that Medicine and Medical Sciences would commence from the next academic session.
He congratulated the matriculated students, urged them to be good ambassadors of their families, and promised a bursary of N100,000 each.
The Vice Chancellor of AKUM, Prof. Mohammed Aliyu Paiko, said the 809 students should see their matriculation as the commencement of a transformative experience that would shape their future, adding that the institution intended to equip its students with skills and innovative mindsets to enable them to become job creators and build enterprises.
He acknowledged the efforts of the Farmer Governor, especially with his green economy initiative, which has resonated globally in response to climate issues. He stated that AKUM is keying into that initiative to produce students who would pioneer sustainable agriculture, biotechnology, medical environmental sciences, ICT, AI, and renewable energy, among other things, to ensure ecological stability.
The Pro Chancellor of AKUM, Prof. Muhammad Yahaya Kuta, described Governor Umaru Bago as a visionary leader who has not only keyed into infrastructural development but is also investing in the younger generation through education, pointing out that the knowledge industry is ruling the world.
