Lagos Pays N5.6bn WAEC Fees for 313,158 Public School Students

The Lagos State Government on Thursday said it has paid N5,601,456,100 for the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) fees of 313,158 SS3 students in public schools in the state since the inception of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration.

Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Jamiu Alli-Balogun disclosed this at a ministerial news conference in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos on Thursday.

Alli-Balogun said the payment was made between 2019 and 2024 by the Governor Sanwo-Olu’s administration.

According to him, Sanwo-Olu has never defaulted on the payment of WAEC fees of all public school SS3 students in his first four term.

“The state government paid over N4.2 billion between 2020 and 2023 to keep our promise of full payment of West African Senior School Certificate Examination fees.

“In the current school year, (2024), the governor has approved the sum of N1,571,076,000 as registration fees and other cost for 58, 188 SS3 students writing the West Africa School Certificate Examination,” he said.

Alli-Balogun also said the Special Committee on Rehabilitation of Public Schools (SCRPS) to date, has rehabilitated 165 public schools, constructed 1,047 new classrooms and built new hostel blocks in the boarding schools.

“It has also provided 1,593 bed in the  hostels while over 200,000 units of dual composite furniture were also provided in the schools including principals and teachers’ furniture.

“Also, construction of 372 new classrooms are on-going in some public schools, 31 secondary schools and five primary schools are also undergoing massive rehabilitation and will be completed soon,” he said.

The commissioner also said in 2023 the Curriculum Services Department conducted a major Book Review exercise when over 7,000 books from different authors and publishers were screened to ascertain and select books that are appropriate for use in schools below tertiary level across the state.

He stated that the exercise served as a model for selecting standard books that promote sustainable lifelong learning and self-reliance in both public and private schools.

“Over 3,000 books were selected after thorough process. The Ministry also released the Lagos State Approved Booklists which was generated from the selected Book Review exercise. These lists have since been released to authors, publishers and schools,” he said.

April 25, 2024