Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq, on Wednesday presented N6 million cheques to six public school pupils who won the Presidential School Debate Championship in Abuja.

Mr AbdulRazaq said that the presentation was a fulfilment of his administration’s pledge to reward the champions with N6 million each, alongside a full scholarship for their first degree in any public tertiary institution in Nigeria.

The six pupils include Mashood Kamaldeen (Government Secondary School; Jatto Ramatallahi (Offa Grammar School, Offa); Jimoh Emmanuel (Tanke Community Junior Secondary School, Ilorin South).

Others are Emmanuel Chioma (St. Anthony JSS, Ilorin East); Dolapo Mariam (Offa Grammar School, Offa) and AbdulKareem Uswat (Okelele JSS, Ilorin East).

The governor congratulated them and their parents on the feat, saying the state government would continue to monitor their educational career to succeed.

“Once again, I congratulate the victorious pupils of the 2023 Presidential School Debate of Nigeria. We are happy about the feat. You have made us proud in Kwara. We are committed to your progress and we will continue to monitor that,” he said.

Mr AbdulRazaq said that billions of naira would be committed in 2024 to various educational and hygiene programmes, such as Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment and WASH, to aid learning and improve the safety of pupils in schools.

He said, “We will continue to make sure you, and indeed every Kwara child, have a very conducive environment to learn. That is why Kwara is one of the states that engage in the FG/World Bank-supported AGILE project. We shall be making full advocacy about other programmes the state has subscribed to over the coming months as well.’’.

He thanked the management and staff members of SUBEB for the “remarkable improvement in their commitment to work,” and pledged his continued support to the agency to sustain the tempo.

Mr AbdulRazaq also thanked the traditional institutions in the state for their support and sought their continued engagement and suggestions that would improve service delivery in the education sector.

The Chairman of SUBEB, Prof. Raheem Adaramaja, thanked the governor for keeping his promise to the debate champions.

Mr Adaramaja promised that the pupils would reciprocate the gesture by bringing home another trophy in subsequent competitions.

He said that the lucky six winners would represent Nigeria at the World School Debate Championship in the Republic of Serbia in Europe later in July 2024.
(NAN)