The Kano state government says it has earmarked N2.9 billion for payment of the National Examinations Council (NECO) and National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) examination fees for 119,903 indigent students.

The commissioner for education, Umar Doguwa, who stated this at a news conference on Thursday in Kano, said the students passed the 2024 qualifying examination.

He said the state governor, Abba Yusuf, has approved payment of the exam fees for students who passed four subjects in the qualifying examination.

The commissioner said the beneficiaries comprise 109,891 students representing 83 per cent for NECO and 10,012 others representing 97.24 per cent for the NBAIS examination.

Mr Doguwa said that N2.6 billion would be spent on candidates for the NECO and N248 million for those writing NBAIS examinations, respectively.

The gesture, he said, would assist indigent students to write the examinations and further their education.

“In our effort to ensure that our students got admission to higher institutions, the Abba Kabir Yusuf-led administration paid NECO and NBAIS for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 registration fees inherited from the previous government,” he said.

While reiterating commitment to uplift the standards of education, Mr Duguwa sought support for government’s programmes to address challenges bedevilling the education sector in the state.

 (NAN)