The Kwara State government says it will increase its students’ bursary award from N5,000 to N10,000.

Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Abolore Alabi, confirmed this while featuring on the 34th edition of media parliament, organised by the state council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Ilorin on Wednesday.

Mr Alabi said the beneficiaries of the bursary increment would cut across students who are indigenes in state, federal and private higher institutions nationwide.

He further stated that the state government would soon open a registration portal for the students to fast-track onward implementation of the new bursary increment.

On the viability of state-owned institutions, the commissioner said they were all virtually autonomous, as the Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq-led administration prioritised their financing.

He also said all the state-owned tertiary institutions had been strengthened to actualise their core mandates of teaching, learning, research and community development.

Earlier, the chairman of the state council of NUJ, Abdul-Lateef Ahmed, called for a realistic funding model for state-owned tertiary institutions to enhance a smooth academic calendar.

Mr Ahmed, who expressed concern over the quality of graduates being churned out by most of the nation’s tertiary institutions, called for a total overhauling of the education sector for the growth and development of the country. 

(NAN)