The Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof Abayomi Arigbabu, said that the government is spending N3.5bn on the ongoing Educash transfer programme for the students of both primary and secondary schools as well as tertiary institution students who are indigenes of the state.
The Educash programme is part of the intervention programmes rolled out by Governor Dapo Abiodun to cushion the effect of the economic hardship caused by the fuel subsidy removal as well as forex volatility leading to sharp increase in prices of commodities.
The commissioner said that under this programme, 100,000 indigent pupils in public primary and secondary schools, as well as 50,000 students in tertiary institutions across the country, will benefit.
He also disclosed that over 40,000 students and pupils in primary and secondary school have so far benefited from the programme.
Arigbabu stated this on Sunday shortly after monitoring the cash transfer to parents of indigent students in public primary and secondary schools in the Remo division of the state.
Arigbabu promised that no one would be left out.
Some of the schools visited include St. Saviours Anglican Primary School, Ikenne-Remo, Christ Apostolic Grammar School, Iperu, Ansar-Ud-Deen School 1, Iperu-Remo, St James Anglican Primary School, Iperu-Remo and Methodist Comprehensive College, Ijoku, Sagamu among others.
He said, “At the end of the day, the intention is to pay almost 50,000 tertiary students. We have captured their data; we have just a little bit less than 50,000. That is over N2.5 billion for the tertiary level.
“At the primary and secondary school level, we are going to eventually pay 100,000 pupils, that is N1 billion. 100,000 indigent students are targeted so that their parents will get N10,000 each. As of today, we have paid 20,000 students through their parents.
“At the tertiary level, as we speak, we have paid over 20,000 students, N50,000 each,” he said.
The commissioner also said that monitoring the transfer was just a symbolic exercise as the state has over 2,000 primary and secondary schools, even as he assured parents who are yet to receive the money to remain calm as it would soon be their turn.
“The schools that we have been to are just a tip of the iceberg. How many schools can we get to out of the almost 2,100 primary and secondary schools? But, we did these ones symbolically to let people see that the governor is a promise keeping governor.
“I want to assure parents who haven’t gotten their own that it is coming, because, we are paying in batches. Apart from that, don’t forget, there can be issues of network.
“If anybody for any reason didn’t get it, let us know through the principal, and we will look into it because nobody is going to be given cash. It will still have to be transferred to their accounts,” he said.
In her remarks, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo, admonished parents not to use the money for their own personal needs but to ensure that they prioritise the future of their children.
Mrs. Oyefeso Blessing and Mrs. Oluwayemi Osolukoya, parents to indigent students at Methodist Comprehensive College, Ijoku, Sagamu, commended the governor for putting the interest of their children at heart, even as they assured that the money would be used for the purpose it was meant to serve.
