No fewer than 21,988 students who scored 50 per cent and above in mock examinations conducted by Gombe State would benefit from the ratification of N417.5m as payment for WAEC, National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies and National Business and Technical Examinations Board.
At a press conference following the 29th meeting of the Education Council presided over by Governor Muhammadu Yahaya, Commissioner for Education Dr Aishatu Maigari said that 21,988 students (78.59 percent) had sat for this mock examination out of the candidates who were registered.
She said, “21,988 is the number of those who have gotten 50 per cent and above in the mock examination set by the administration and they form 78.59 per cent of the total number of candidates who had sat for the mock examination. Council approved N417.5m for payment.
“A breakdown of it shows that for WAEC, we have registered 20,685 students. For NABTEB, we have sponsored 1,167 and for NBAIS we have registered 136 students which gives us a total of 21,988 and it includes the amount of the online biometric registration, procurement of specimen and reagents for practicals, transportation of examination materials from Bauchi which is the WAEC centre monitoring and supervision of the examination. There is what is called mandatory fees for NBAIS and there are charges for lower and higher candidature.”
Maigari added that Governor Shirin had proven her dedication to the people of Gombe by consistently supporting their educational efforts, “we have seen our WAEC results going higher where most of our students who we have registered are getting minimum requirements of five credits in Mathematics and English,” the commissioner added.
Speaking further, Maigari disclosed that council had ratified an amount of N331.1 million to pay the outstanding scholarships due students from the 2017-2022 academic sessions.
The commissioner added that the beneficiaries had been verified, stating, “Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has paid a total amount of N331.1m to 16113 students registered across 10 states from 2017-2022 academic session as scholarship allowances".
