The Ogun State Government has said it began payment of N10, 000 cash award to 100,000 primary school pupils and secondary school students in 2,000 public schools across the state.

The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Dapo Abiodun, Lekan Adeniran, in a statement on Wednesday in Abeokuta, said the gesture was in fulfilment of the promise the state governor made.

“The governor had promised to pay N10, 000 to indigent pupils and students in the state’s primary and secondary schools,” he said.

Mr Adeniran quoted the state’s Commissioner for Education, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, as saying the payment was one of the strategies to provide succour to parents.

He said Mr Arigbabu, while monitoring the disbursement of the money in some schools in Abeokuta, noted that the gesture was due to the current economic situation in the country.

“The money is meant to provide succour to pupils and their parents. In view of the economic realities in the country, the governor decided to provide succour to the people of the state using a set of multiple approaches to achieve this. We have over 2,000 primary and secondary schools in the four divisions of the state, and 100,000 learners in these schools would receive N10,000 each,” the commissioner was quoted as saying.

Mr Arigbabu further said that government decided to pay through parents whose children were in public primary and secondary schools as the children do not have bank accounts due to their ages.

“As we meet and give the parents the governor’s message, they are receiving the alerts for payment. The governor’s gesture is to support the parents in meeting their children’s needs,” he said.

The commissioner noted also that 50,000 students of Ogun State origin in both public and private tertiary institutions had been captured to be paid N50,000 each.

According to the statement, some of the schools visited by Arigbabu included Baptist Boys High School (Junior), Lisabi Grammar School, African Church Grammar School and Abeokuta Grammar School.

Others were Saje High School, Ebenezer Grammar School, Unity High School, Ebenezer Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Saje, Holy Prophets Primary School and Agunbiade Victory High School, all in Abeokuta.

(NAN)