Governor Ahmed Ododo has approved the sum of N316 million for disbursement as a bursary to 8,750 undergraduate students of Kogi who have been successfully cleared.

Education commissioner Wemi Jones disclosed this at a news conference on Friday in Lokoja.

Mr Jones said out of over 40,000 undergraduate students who applied online for the 2024 bursary award, only 8,75 met the required documents.

He explained that out of the 8,750 students, 8,549 would get N30,000 each, totalling 256 million, while the remaining 201, who were law students, would receive N300,000 each, totalling N60.3 million.

The commissioner assured that the beneficiaries would get bank alerts within two weeks.

He reaffirmed the commitment of the current administration to prioritize education and reduce the number of out-of-school children to the barest minimum in Kogi.

The commissioner also presented a complementary cheque of N5 million to Favour Adebayo, a Kogi indigene on scholarship studying in Poland.

The commissioner said the governor had graciously approved the disbursement of N5 million to the awardee for making the state proud by winning the European Union Erasmus+ Scholarship to study in Poland.

Mr Jones, while presenting the N5 million cheque to the father of the awardee, Moses Adebayo, on behalf of the governor, said the N5 million was to complement the scholarship award given to her by the European Union.

Afolabi Joseph-Raji, the executive chairman of the Kogi State Scholarship Board (KSSB), commended the governor for his commitment to education development through various scholarship awards.

Mr Joseph-Raji noted that the student had won a scholarship as the best overall student while studying at the Nasarawa State University in 300 Level through an exchange programme with Poland.

He said the fund would complement her tuition, accommodation and other areas of need.

Mr Joseph-Raji reiterated the state government’s commitment through the Board to ensure that every Kogi student attained academic success and became responsible.

(NAN)