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Niger State governor, Mohammed Umar Bago, has said the state government would provide free transportation for pupils and students in public schools in the state to encourage enrolment and checkmate children dropping out of school.
He said the move was due to the high cost of transportation following the removal of fuel subsidies by the federal government.
Bago said this Friday when he received officials of the National Examinations Council (NECO) led by its Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, (CEO) Prof. Ibrahim Wushishi, at the Government House Minna.
The governor explained that the free transportation for the children at the basic level of education will “encourage pupils to go to school at the basic education level and again cushion the effect of subsidy removal.”
He called on the examination body to support the state in addressing the challenges of out-of-school children, especially the girl-child.
The governor also suggested that NECO should find ways of supporting vocational training in the education curriculum to make students self-reliant.
He directed that N30 million be paid monthly to clear the outstanding debt the state owed NECO.
Earlier, the NECO Registrar and CEO, Prof Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, said Niger State had been experiencing fluctuating registration figures in the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations between 2018 and 2022.
