Niger State Governor, Mohammed Bago, has approved the release of N30 million monthly to pay debts owed the National Examinations Council (NECO) by previous administrations.

He announced this when he received the management of NECO led by the Registrar/Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Danteni Wushishi, at the Government House, Minna.

The governor, who expressed concern over the poor turnout and performance of registered students for Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) in the state, directed the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) to get to the root of the matter.

The governor enjoined NECO to collaborate with the state government to address the menace of out-of-school children and girls’ child education. He also urged the examination body to support vocational training to make students self-reliant.

Governor Bago, who volunteered to assist NECO recover its huge debts owed by other states across the country, advised it to sponsor educational activities such as essay writing and deploy some of its human resources to classrooms to teach and for mentorship.

“We have not felt NECO in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). We have not seen a block of classroom that has been fixed by NECO. You cannot be a tenant in our state and not add value to our people and communities,” Bago said.

Wushishi appealed to the governor to make NECO examinations compulsory for public schools in the state, promising that NECO would partner the state to enhance education in line with its core values.

Disclosing that the state had experienced fluctuating registration figures for SSCE from 2018 to 2022, he sought more collaboration between the council and the state.