Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara deliberately lied about supporting 55,500 students with WAEC/NECO fees during his 2025 budget speech to hype his administration’s achievements in 2024, senior officials in the government house told Peoples Gazette.

During his presentation of the N540 billion 2025 budget to the state assembly last week, Mr Abdulrazaq highlighted his achievements in the 2024 fiscal year. Amid cheers from his supporters, he claimed to have paid the examination fees and supported agricultural advances in Kwara.

“We also funded education for 66,000 entrance exam candidates, 58,420 BECE candidates, 28,500 WAEC candidates, and 27,000 NECO candidates,” said the governor, who added that over 70,000 vulnerable households received support.

However, the top officials described Mr Abdulrazaq’s claim as unfounded, accusing him of pettiness.

“The governor, in my position, said that just to elevate the impacts of his administration,” the source told The Gazette. “It would be easy to know if such a gesture was made in the first place. How can you support such a huge number of students in these times without usual publicity, without anybody knowing?”

“I listened to the governor speak to the lawmakers, highlighting what the administration has done so far throughout the year. But, as for the claim about students’ exam fees, I can’t really wrap my head around it. I am not familiar with such information. Maybe it was deliberate from His Excellency,” another government official said.

Also, parents and principals of public secondary schools described the governor’s claim as untrue and ridiculous.

During the weekly phone-in programme “Oro Ilu” aired on Sobi FM in Ilorin and monitored by The Gazette on Monday, callers maintained that they paid their children’s fees.

“It is ridiculous to make such a claim at a time he was presenting his achievements for the year. Why the lie?” a parent told The Gazette on Tuesday. “Three of my children wrote WAEC and NECO this year. I paid for them myself. So I am surprised the governor made such a bold claim when he knew he didn’t do anything.”

Similarly, three principals of publicly-owned secondary schools in Ilorin East Local Government, who spoke to The Gazette anonymously, also denied receiving such gestures at their respective schools.

“Nothing like that happened. I wasn’t informed of such at my school. I got to know about the development while listening to a radio programme yesterday,” one of the principals noted.

“In my school, I am aware of individual politicians such as Solihu Mustapha, senator representing Kwara Central, who paid exam fees for some 17 students in my school. We didn’t receive any delegation on behalf of the state government in respect of fee payment,” another principal told The Gazette.

The state Commissioner of Education and Human Capital Development, Sa’adatu Moddibo Kawu, did not answer a series of phone calls regarding the governor’s claims Tuesday but soon shared a statement by the ministry in a WhatsApp chat.

The statement titled “Ministry of Education clarifies budget statement on WAEC/NECO fees” and signed by Peter Amogbonjaye, its spokesman, read, “What the state government paid for was the Placement Common Entrance Examination, and it subsidised the Junior Secondary School BECE.”

“The state government, through the ministry, only conducted the pre-WAEC and NECO activities. It did not fund these examinations. They are parents’ sponsored,” the statement added, attributing the governor’s claim to a mixup.

“This mixup, as inserted in the budget speech of His Excellency, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, came from the Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development. We own and regret the mixup.”

The chief press secretary to the governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, did not respond to The Gazette’s message seeking his comments on the matter.

Despite its sensitivity, Mr Abdulrazaq’s claim, which had generated debates in the state, was not addressed until days after, highlighting his administration’s lack of due diligence. As of Wednesday afternoon, the clarification was yet to be published on the state government’s website.

As of the time of filing this report, Ms Kawu had not replied to Gazette’s message seeking further clarification on the development.