Education
Jubilation As Enugu East LG Boss Pays SSCE Fee For Over 2,000 Students Within Council Area
There was jubilation on Thursday in Enugu East local government area following a declaration by the council boss, Hon. Pastor Beloved-Dan Anike, to pay the senior school certificate examination bills comprising of the West African School Certificate Examination, (WAEC), the National Examination Council, (NECO) and National Board for Technical Education (NABTEB) examinations for the senior secondary school three, (SS3) students across all public schools within the council area.
The mayor disclosed this at the council headquarters, Nkwo Nike, during a special meeting with the principals of the entire public secondary schools within his domain, stressing that his administration is also planning on making similar payments for Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) exam fees for the students when they are due for that, adding that arrangements are also being made to pay extra lessons fees for these SS3 students in order to ensure that they are well prepared for the exams ahead.
Speaking to the press after meeting with the principals, the council chairman, Hon. Beloved-Dan stated that the exercise was part of his administration’s human capital development plan and equal access to quality education, which are in tandem with the vision of the Enugu State governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, aimed at raising a smart generation for global competitiveness.In his words: “We know education is pivotal to taking people out of poverty and stopping hunger, if you are educated you will be prepared to have requisite skills and to make the right decisions to better your life.
“I’m not saying that certification is enough to get empowered, but beyond the certification it will enable you to acquire the right skill and turn your skill to business and business to money. So we have the vision of preparing our future leaders to become globally competitive, that’s why we are looking at human capital.
“You are aware that we just finished our ‘Better Tomorrow Scholarship Scheme’, through which we have selected 50 hyper intelligent students to be moved to highly rated schools where they will be able to gain the right exposure and the right environment to be able to become globally competitive.
“This is in line with the vision of His Excellency the governor of Enugu Enugu State, which places education at the top burner, bringing smart school to every ward of the state. In order to also close the gap, we know as the most populous local council area in the state, we are looking at improving the human capital index of our youth, such that they become globally competitive and also contribute to the economy of the state as we scale up in the trajectory $30billion dollar mark.
Responding to questions on the categories of students to benefit from this intervention, the mayor explained that the exercise is targeting all residents of the local government, both indigenous and non-indigenous SS3 students in public schools, stressing that the intention is to ease the troubling load off the shoulders of the rural, the urban and the semi-urban poor, noting that the focus is on the social impacts.
Beloved-Dan also commended the governor of the state, Dr Peter Mbah, whom he said has already made the job easier for them, (the local government chairmen), through his huge investments in education across the 260 wards of the state, adding that the smart green schools being built in every community by the governor will bridge the inequality of access to quality education and not only boost confidence in public schools but would most likely crash the quest for quality education from the private schools.
“The smart green schools in the 260 wards that are being established by our governor, Dr Peter Mbah, is actually targeted as measure to provide the opportunity for the poor and the provide more importantly an alternative school to what we call private schools, in fact by September 2025 everyone who operates a private school or luxury school in Enugu state will check the indices that makes a luxury school, because what the smart school would provide will have high ratings more than the those private schools/luxury schools.
“So it’s actually to help not just the poor but also the middle class. A whole lot of people who take their children to private schools are overburdened by the load of school fees, ranging from 50-thousand, to 100-thousand and 200-thousand, not to talk of the luxury schools that pay about 500-thousand and above.
“So the critical mass of the population including civil servants move our children to private schools, but by the time the smart schools fully take off by September next year, everybody will go public, it will be a repeat of those days when if you don’t have 36 or 30 aggregates to be in public school, you would know what you are missing. That’s why we are coming back to support the public schools and encourage everybody.
The council boss, flanked by the secretary to the local government, who also doubles as the chairman of the implementation committee, Barr Uchenna Mbeke, also emphasized that the initiative has been captured into law and hopes to be sustained it as an annual exercise.
“The journey of many miles starts with a step. We have already made funds available for this initiative. We have passed the Human Capital Development Bye Law, that approved 25-million naira monthly for human capital development which amounts to 300-million annual estimates in that regard. So we would be spending around 50-60 million on this which should make it an annual event, hoping that even subsequent chairmen after me would sustain”, he said.
Responding, some of the school principals who were full of joy commended the chairman, Hon. Beloved-Dan, for bringing succour to the less privileged.
.Dr Agada Gregory, the principal of community secondary school, Ugwogo Nike said, “If you look at our faces you will see that we are so happy about this project which our dear mayor has introduced. It’s going to go a long way to bridging the gap between the rich and the poor, whereby those who have money go to the private schools.
“This path the mayor is taking, I bet you in the next two years, nobody will be thinking of sending their children to the private schools. This initiative will put an end to the issue of dropout due to lack of funds. We enjoin other local government chairmen to emulate this kind of gesture.
On her part, Mrs Agbo, from Annunciation secondary school, Nkwo Nike, also expressed her joy and prayed for the chairman, “We are grateful for having this opportunity to interact with our precious Beloved-Dan, he is a good leader.
“We really appreciate what is happening today because poverty is a disease. That many of our children don’t go to school is not because they don’t want to, but because they don’t have the money, now that we have been given this opportunity, only the sky is our limit and God will strengthen our able chairman to do even more and I believe everyone will benefit, even the farmers in the villages may now want to enroll in schools. Our dear mayor, we love you, everyone loves you, ride on, May God strengthen you sir.
Education
Governor Mbah Increases Monthly Subvention to ESUT by N115m, Appeals to ASUU to Suspend Strike
Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has approved an additional N115 million monthly subvention for the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), as part of efforts to address concerns surrounding the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), ESUT chapter.
The additional funding will raise the state government’s monthly subvention to ESUT from the current N161 million to N276 million, representing a cumulative increase of N140 million since February 2026.
The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, who made this known in a statement on Monday, said the additional funding underscored the administration’s commitment to strengthening ESUT’s capacity to meet its financial obligations, particularly its responsibility to staff and the continued delivery of quality academic services.
“Governor Mbah has demonstrated once again that his administration places the welfare of workers and the uninterrupted education of our young people at the heart of its priorities. This additional N115 million monthly intervention is a substantial commitment of public resources aimed at strengthening ESUT and ensuring that the institution can meet its obligations to its staff and students,” Prof. Onyia said.
He explained that prior to February 2026, the state government was providing N136 million monthly to ESUT. However, beginning in February, the government commenced an additional monthly intervention of N25 million specifically for the ESUT College of Medicine (ESUCOM) to support the payment of 120 additional staff, bringing the total monthly government support to the university to N161 million.
Prof. Onyia said the latest approval of an additional N115 million would raise the state government’s total monthly subvention to ESUT to N276 million.
He further said the increase would help ESUT towards achieving the salary agreement reached between ASUU and the Federal Government.
He appealed to ASUU members at ESUT to reciprocate the government’s intervention by suspending the industrial action and resuming academic activities, in the interest of students whose academic progress may be disrupted by the strike.
“We appeal to ASUU-ESUT to reciprocate this gesture by resuming academic activities, while all outstanding issues are addressed through constructive dialogue. Our students should not be made to bear the consequences of disagreements that can be resolved amicably,” the SSG said.
The SSG reaffirmed Governor Mbah’s commitment to the welfare of workers and the sustained development of ESUT, saying the substantial increase in government funding demonstrated the priority the administration places on education and the uninterrupted academic calendar.
He urged all stakeholders, including the university management and ASUU, to embrace dialogue and work collaboratively towards resolving the outstanding issues, stressing that the ultimate objective should be to ensure that ESUT students receive uninterrupted and quality education.
He further assured the university community that the Mbah administration would continue to support ESUT within available resources, while taking necessary steps to strengthen the institution and position it to fulfil its mandate as a leading university of science and technology.
United Nigeria Airlines has pledged N20 million to sponsor the prestigious annual Chinua Achebe Prize for Fiction, administered by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) for the next 10 years.
The sponsorship deal was disclosed today by the executive chairman of the airline, Professor Obiora Okonkwo, following a discussion with the ANA president, Dr. Usman Akanbi.
Under the arrangement, the airline will provide N2 million every year for the next 10 years to ANA, bringing the total sponsorship to N20 million, a commitment the association says would guarantee the continuation of the prize regardless of the change in the state government.
The yearly award which was initiated by the Anambra State government in 2021 in conjunction with the ANA leadership, has faced financial constraints in the last three years following the failure of the present state administration to continue its sponsorship.
Though the Governor Willie Obiano administration began the sponsorship with one million naira, the Governor Chukwuma Soludo administration that succeeded it in 2022 continued the sponsorship and agreed to ANA’s request to double it in consideration of inflation and administrative costs like payments to judges.
However, after two years, the organisers say the state government appears to have lost interest in continuing with the sponsorship despite several letters reminding it of its promise.
The apparent lack of commitment caused United Nigeria Airlines to intervenee and rescue the prize from uncertainty.
Announcing the airline’s decision to step in, Dr. Akanbi quoted Prof Okonkwo as saying: “Prof Achebe is too precious in our consciousness for the award to continue to suffer the current epileptic funding.”
Speaking on why the airline made the decision to take over the sponsorship, Prof. Okonkwo said that Achebe’s legacy demands this level of commitment.
“Very few men and women of letters and culture in recent history”, he stated, “have brought as much attention and honour to the black race and the African world as the great Achebe through his writings, lectures, speeches, intellectual activism, ethical conduct, and intermittent interventions in political affairs which has made him an authentic conscience of the Nigerian people.
Reacting to the sponsorship, the ANA president, who is a senior academic at the University of Ilorin in Kwara State said: “We are immensely grateful to Prof. Okonkwo and his airline for their patriotic intervention. Prof was not just a world-class raconteur and essayist, but also the ANA founder who started our association in 1981 at the University of Nigeria at Nsukka and accepted to serve as its first president, thus giving it the credibility and platform that has made the association highly respected beyond Nigeria’s shores.”
Akanbi also highlighted Okonkwo’s consistent record of honouring Achebe, stating that Prof. Okonkwo has for some been hard to preserve the late author’s legacy.
For instance, he was solely responsible for financing the erection of a statue of the late Prof. Achebe which was unveiled in July by Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State at the Ugwunwasike Roundabout in Ogidi, Idemili North Local Government Area, Achebe’s own hometown.
The prize sponsorship is the latest effort made by Prof. Okonkwo and United Nigeria Airlines to cement Achebe’s legacy.
In June, one of the two Boeing 737-800NG aircraft purchased by United Nigeria Airlines was named after the late author, while the other was named after His Royal Majesty, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha.
Naming these two aircraft after both men is in line with Prof. Okonkwo’s determination to uphold their values.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Ebonyi State, Chief Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii, has pledged to overhaul the welfare system of university lecturers and other academic and non-teaching staff in the state if elected governor in 2027.
Odii made the commitment when a delegation of university lecturers from Ebonyi State visited him at his Banana Island residence to discuss areas of possible cooperation and synergy ahead of the 2027 governorship election.
The PDP candidate said his administration would introduce a comprehensive welfare scheme for staff of Ebonyi State University (EBSU) and workers in the state’s newly established tertiary institutions, including the Aeronautic University in Onueke and the ICT University in Oferekpe.
He said the welfare of university workers must be treated as a priority because of their crucial role in producing the skilled manpower needed for the development of the state.
Odii described as “embarrassing and condemnable” a situation where lecturers struggle to afford decent accommodation, maintain reliable means of transportation or pay their children’s school fees, including in some cases where the children attend institutions where their parents teach.
He expressed particular concern over the remuneration of university professors, arguing that a professor earning less than the equivalent of $500 monthly should be considered an emergency requiring urgent government intervention.
The PDP candidate promised that the welfare challenges confronting lecturers and other workers in the tertiary education sector would receive attention within the first six months of his administration if elected.
He said his government would review the remuneration and welfare packages of university workers and introduce measures to make academic careers more attractive, while creating an environment that would enable lecturers and other university staff to perform their duties effectively.
Odii stressed that improving the education sector was central to his vision for Ebonyi State, adding that universities could only produce the quality manpower required for sustainable development when their workers were adequately motivated and supported.
Students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU), Awka, Anambra State, were allegedly prevented from writing their examinations after they failed to purchase textbooks reportedly authored or recommended by some of their lecturers.
According to complaints received from affected students, the students had paid their required school fees and were duly expected to participate in the examinations. However, they were allegedly turned away from the examination hall because they had not purchased the textbooks.
The students expressed frustration over what they described as an unfair practice, questioning why payment of school fees and fulfilment of other academic requirements would not be sufficient to qualify them to sit for their examinations.
One of the students who spoke on the matter alleged that the affected students were asked to leave the examination venue after it was discovered that they had not bought the textbooks.
The students have appealed to the university authorities to investigate the allegation and ensure that no student is denied access to an examination on the basis of failure to purchase a lecturer’s textbook.
For fear of further victimisation, this report will not disclose the department and names of the lecturers involved.
The development has sparked concerns about academic practices and the welfare of students, with calls for university management to clarify whether lecturers are permitted to make the purchase of their textbooks a condition for students to participate in examinations.
The allegation could not be independently verified at the time of filing this report. The university authorities are yet to publicly comment on the matter.
Students and parents are expected to watch closely for the university’s response to the allegation, particularly given the potential implications for students’ academic progression.
By Okey Maduforo, Awka
The management of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, has banned, with immediate effect, all forms of orchestration, celebration and “signing-off” activities by final-year students in connection with their final examinations on all university campuses and premises.
In a statement issued by the Director of Information and Public Relations, Comrade Aloysius Emeka Attah, the university said the decision was prompted by recurring incidents of chaos, violence, vandalism and disruption of academic and administrative activities associated with such events.
“Management is also concerned about the infiltration of unauthorised persons onto campus during these activities, which poses a serious threat to the safety and security of students, staff and university property.
“In fulfilment of its statutory obligation to maintain order, protect lives and safeguard property, Management considers such activities unacceptable and a breach of University regulations,” the statement said.
The university spokesman warned that any student found involved in organising or participating in any form of “signing-off” or related activities would face severe disciplinary sanctions, including rustication and withdrawal from the university, in accordance with the Students’ Handbook.
The statement also warned non-students and outsiders against entering the university premises in connection with the banned activities.
“Any person who is not a bona fide student or staff of the University found on University premises in connection with such activities shall be arrested and prosecuted for breach of peace, trespass and disorderly conduct,” it stated.
The Registrar of the university, Dr Chinenye Gloria Okeke, had earlier communicated the directive to the university community through an internal memo, urging students to remain focused on their academic responsibilities.
She also called on staff, students and members of the public to report any planned or ongoing misconduct to the Chief Safety Officer, Dean of Student Affairs or the nearest university authority for immediate action.
The university, under the leadership of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Bond Ugochukwu Stanley Anyaehie, said it remained committed to providing a safe, peaceful and conducive environment for teaching, learning and research.
Management, it added, would not tolerate any action capable of undermining the safety, order and academic environment of the institution.
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