David Ukechir, the Convener of Grassroots Support for Tinubu 2027, says the organisation’s back-to-school project has paid school fees for 570 vulnerable students in Benue State.

Mr Ukechir, who spoke through the coordinator of the back-to-school project, Dr Ephraim Tyo, in an interview in Makurdi on Monday, said the initiative aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

He said the organisation’s programmes included providing boreholes, free medical outreaches, free transportation, and educational support for vulnerable children across the country.

According to him, the back-to-school project provides payment of school fees, school bags and other learning materials for indigent pupils and students.

He said the implementation of the education intervention was being carried out in batches, with the first phase covering Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba, Kogi and Kaduna states.

He disclosed that the organisation recently awarded N45 million in scholarships to 300 vulnerable students of the Federal University of Technology, Babura, Jigawa State.

According to him, the intervention in Jigawa came ahead of schedule after the university’s vice-chancellor appealed for assistance for vulnerable students in the newly established institution.

“In Benue, we have focused mainly on paying school fees for vulnerable secondary school students since I assumed office, although scholarships had earlier been awarded to students of Benue State University.

“So far, we have paid school fees for about 570 vulnerable students across Kwande, Katsina-Ala, Buruku, West Agatu and parts of Makurdi Local Government Area,” he said.

The coordinator explained that beneficiaries were identified through school principals and education authorities, adding that many of them were children displaced by insecurity.

He dismissed concerns that the programme duplicated the federal government’s Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund), insisting that the initiative was a separate intervention specifically targeted at vulnerable children.

He said the organisation would continue expanding its humanitarian programmes across the country.

He added that plans were underway to restore the group’s free transportation service, which operates from Makurdi to Abuja, Jos, Kaduna, and Lokoja, but which was temporarily suspended.

He further said the organisation had conducted free medical outreaches in Benue, Taraba, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Nasarawa and Plateau states as part of its efforts to improve access to healthcare for vulnerable communities.

 (NAN)