By Wole Mosadomi

Niger state government clears backlog of N205m debt; affected students now assess their results.
Minna- After seven years of a hanging debt, the Niger state government has cleared the N205 million owed the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) and the results of the affected students were released.

Similarly, the state government has also cleared N150m owed National Examinations Council,(NECO) being a backlog of money also owed to the examination body for the same period.

Governor Muhammed Umaru Bago who was disturbed by the huge debt he met on the ground and the negative effect it was having on the innocent students ordered for the immediate payment of the WAEC debt and also gave a standing order of N30m to be paid monthly to NECO to offset its debt with effect from June this year.

Already, the sum of N150m has been paid NECO till date out of the N500m debt.

The Special Adviser on Print Media to the state Governor, Aisha Wakaso while briefing Journalists at government house, Minna yesterday said the tempo will be maintained due to the priority his administration has accorded education at all levels.

“The present administration of Bago has accorded education top priority and will do all within its resources to uplift the standard of education in the state for accelerated development,”Aisha declared.

She also disclosed that the state government has taken delivery of seventeen samples of the 200 CNG buses which are meant to be used for commercial transportation while the Governor has subsequently given approval for the remaining buses to be delivered for soonest full utilization of the government’s transportation project.

When fully delivered,100 of the vehicles will be be deployed to serve as commercial transportation for commuters plying Minna- Suleja-Abuja road, 50 to be used within Minna, the state capital for students and Civil Servants while the remaining 50 will be spread across the 25 local government areas of the state.

Governor Bago had also revealed that 300 more vehicles will also be purchased next year in its second phase aimed at cushioning the effect on the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal government.