The Kano State Government on Wednesday commenced payment of N300 million scholarship allowance to 23,987 students in various Nigerian universities and other institutions of higher learning in the country.
Prof Fatima Umar, the Executive Secretary of the State Scholarship Board, disclosed this while briefing newsmen in Kano.
Umar said the payment was part of the debt inherited from the immediate past administration that failed to pay the scholarship allowances from 2011 to 2015.
She said that the payment was for 2013/14 academic session, adding that the board had already paid N360 million outstanding for the 2012/13 academic session to 24,901 students.
According to her, the payment was for the Kano state indigenes studying various programmes in 55 institutions across the country.
“Since 2011 to 2015, the immediate past government did not pay scholarship to our internal students throughout its tenure. This had incurred a huge debt over the current administration.
“We have since begun the payment for the 2012/13 academic session. We disbursed N360 million to 24,901 students then.
“From today, we are beginning the payment for the 2013/14 academic session. We will disburse N300 million to 23,987 students studying in 55 institutions across the country, ” she said
Umar however, warned that any student that failed to access the payment should blame him/herself, affirming that the problem could happen if a student provided wrong account number, or failed to issue Bank Verification Number (BVN), or had a dormant account.
She said the state government would continue to pay the scholarship as part of effort to improve the standard of education, adding that government would continue to support indigent students to acquire education.
“In the scholarship programme, Ganduje administration has shown more concern than any other administration in the history of Kano,” she said.(NAN)