LIVE UPDATES
Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal has granted scholarships to 30 gifted students from the state at the Federal Government Academy, Suleja.
The governor spoke at the Government House when he hosted the students and leadership of the Muhammad Danbaba Centre for Women and Youth Development, according to a statement on Friday by his spokesperson, Sulaiman Idris.
He said that the move became necessary following the state’s emergence as the top-performing Northern State in the National Examination Council (NECO) entrance exams for gifted students.
The statement added that a number of the students with the highest entrance examination performance were from public schools.
In his remarks, Lawal congratulated the students and their parents for making the state proud.
He said, “Your remarkable performance was a positive indication that our administration’s declaration of emergency in education was not in vain.
“In the past, Zamfara was consistently at the bottom regarding education in Nigeria. This is why I declared a state of emergency in the education sector last year.
“We are renovating more than 300 fully equipped schools across all 14 Local government areas. In addition, we have implemented measures to train the teachers to improve the quality of public school education.
“I want to share my experience of attending public schools. I was the only one in my family who attended LEA schools because I grew up with my grandparents in Katsina.
“After primary school, I attended Government Secondary School, Kachia, while all my siblings attended King's College or Federal Government College. So, we are on a mission to revive the quality of public schools.
“I would like to announce that I am offering a full scholarship for all 30 gifted students. No parents will have to pay anything, as the scholarship will cover all expenses.
“This is just the beginning as we plan to continue offering this support to all our students.”
Earlier, the Chairman of the Muhammad Danbaba Centre for Women and Youth Development, Sarkin Malami, hailed the initiative by the government to enhance productivity.
