Two months after the National Examination Council, NECO, released the results of internal examinations, the candidates of public schools in Niger State finally got their results.

The council withheld results of no fewer than 3000 candidates of the public schools in the state for the inability of the government to pay the candidates’ examination fees.

The State House of Assembly, last week raised the alarm in a motion of public interest by Hon Malik Bosso, over the sufferings of the 3000 candidates due to non release of their results, and the House set up a committee to look into it.

Investigations revealed that the government paid some money to the council immediately and promised to meet up with the remaining obligations next month before the council released the results at about 5pm Tuesday.

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has offered foreign scholarship to three indigenes of the State who are recipients of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Presidential Honour Award.

He said the state was proud of the selfless and humanitarian service rendered by the three awardees during their NYSC programme.

Wike announced the award of foreign scholarship during a courtesy call on him by the recipients of the presidential honour at the Government House, Port Harcourt.

The governor said while the Federal Government deserves commendation for offering the awardees automatic employment, the State government has decided to offer them scholarship for Masters and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in any university of their choice anywhere in the world.

He stated that once the awardees present their letter of admission to the Secretary to the State Government, their tuition will be paid in full to prevent them being abandoned by the next administration.

However, the governor said if they want employment, then the State government will offer them automatic employment in the State civil service.

He said his administration will not relent in promoting human capital development in all sphere of human endeavour in the State.

Governor Wike added that the state government has approved funds to the Ministry of Education to pay the tuition of Rivers State indigenes studying medical sciences at the PAMO University.

Rivers State NYSC Coordinator, Chief Chinwendu Chukwu, said the awardees who served in Jigawa, Yobe and Bayelsa States respectively, distinguished themselves by rendering selfless humanitarian service during their national service programme.

Speaking on behalf of the awardees, Gilbert Kiaka Goodnews, explained that during his national service, he was able to offer free ICT training to over 200 students in Bayelsa State.

He said another recipient of the presidential honour, Worlu Aruchi Rachael, a lawyer, offered free legal services to 22 inmates and secured their release from jail in Yobe State.

Goodnews further explained that the third recipient, Jasper Deebari Uchenna during his national service discovered that most streets in the Jigawa State were not named and decided to name them.

The president of Riverine Communities of Nigeria, Sheriff Mulade, has appealed to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and the Commissioner for Higher Education, Professor Patrick Muoboghare, to consider citing a higher institution in riverine communities of Delta State to enable them access higher education without much hassles.

In a separate letter he forwarded to Senator Okowa, the Ijaw leader also urged him to transfer the School of Marine Technology, Burutu, from the state’s Ministry of Transport to the Ministry of Higher Education, to enable the institution function effectively and optimally.

Commending Senator Okowa for upgrading the College of Education, Agbor, the Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro and the Delta State University, Asaba campuses to universities to ease the quest for university education, he said folks in the creeks of the state deserved similar gesture given the socio-economic hardships associated with the terrain, which he noted sustains the nation’s economy.

Mulade made the appeal in Asaba during a public hearing on the three proposed universities at the state’s House of Assembly complex.

He said Education is the right of every citizen and not a privilege adding that the lack of schools in the riverine communities, especially higher institutions, resulted in the youths engaging in retrogressive tendencies such as restiveness.

The Osun State government has sealed off 23 private schools it said were “substandard” across the state.

Some of the offences that led to closure of the schools are dirty teaching environment, unqualified teachers, non renewal of licenses and operating without a licence.

The seal off according to the state’s commissioner for education, Folorunso Oladoyin, is to perfect the efforts of the government to sanitise education sector in the state for better results.

The commissioner, in a statement, said authorities “will not relent in its efforts to give quality education to students because they are the future of the state.

He urged the school supervisors in Osun to remain in order to fish out more mushroom and substandard private schools.

Oladoyin also said in the statement that private schools who are not properly registered with the state’s Ministry of Education should do so as soon as possible.

The affected schools include Hephzibah Kiddies, Ejigbo; Najeemdeen Model Schools, Ejigbo; Favour of God secondary school, Okinni; Omolara Nursery And Primary School, Iwo, among others.

This is the second time the state government will seal off schools. Some schools were sealed in September 2020 for similar offences.

The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), recently held a five day training for food handlers drawn from the Local Government Education Authority across the state.

The programme themed, ‘Quality Nutrition and Healthy Lifestyle during Covid-19 Pandemic’, was aimed at strengthening their capacity to effectively carry out their duties hygienically and efficiently while ensuring that they serve the pupils food by mid-day everyday of the week.

The Executive Chairman of the board, Wahab Alawiye-King who declared the programme opened, said the theme was apt considering the present reality, adding that the application of the principles of environmental sanitation, personal hygiene and established food safety practices, cannot be over emphasised.

The Executive Chairman emphasised on the national home grown school feeding programme, a social intervention initiative of the federal government to promote social protection where pupils in primary one to three in public primary schools are given one nutritious meal per day.

He commended the federal government for its commitment towards the initiative in Lagos saying, it has continued to increase enrolment and retention rates of pupils in public books and also helped to improve their nutrition and health status.

Alawiye-King recalled that the feeding programme had commenced in the state last year, but it was abruptly halted due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and the closure of schools.

He said the board was in talks with the ministry of humanitarian affairs and Disaster management to ensure that all the vendors go round all the schools in the state