The Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, has approved N1,082,146,300 for the payment of the 2022 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) fees for 59,280 candidates in the state.

The money is to be paid to the West African Examination Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO), National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) and National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS).

The state Commissioner for Education, Prof. Badamasi Lawal Charanchi, disclosed this on Friday while reacting to a statement issued by the state chapter of the National Rescue Movement (NRM) party.

NRM, in a recent statement by its Secretary, Hon. Abubakar Aminu Birchi, gave the state government a two-week ultimatum to pay the examination fees of the students or face mass protest by its members, civil society organisations and concerned students in the state.

But Charanchi, during the media chat, said: “Sincerely speaking, we have gotten approval and release from His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello Masari for the payment of this year’s (2022) senior school certificate examination fees of 59,280 students who sat for the examinations.

“And the government will very soon pay these examination fees for not only WAEC but for NECO, NBAIS and NABTEB to the tune of N1,082,146,300 to enable the examination bodies release results of 59,280 students that sat for the SSCE examinations,” he added.

He, however, said the state government has spent the sum of N4,234,185,251 on the payment of senior school certificate examination fees for 399,550 sponsored candidates between 2015 and 2021 across the state.

Charanchi reiterated that the state government under the leadership of Governor Masari had sponsored 136,014 students for WAEC, 247,085 for NECO, 4,550 for NABTEB and 11,903 students for NBAIS examinations within the period under review.

He, therefore, described the statement by the NRM as the misrepresentation of Masari’s strides in the education sector and the exceeding performance of students in the senior school certificate examinations.

According to him, the National Rescue Movement has no power to issue any ultimatum to the state government, adding that the party officials should always cross-check their facts before “writing trash”. (THISDAY)

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