The governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq, gave six public school students who won the Presidential School Debate Championship in Abuja cheques of N6 million on Wednesday.
The presentation, according to Mr. AbdulRazaq, fulfilled his administration’s promise to award the winners N6 million each and provide them with a complete scholarship for their first degree at any public tertiary institution in Nigeria.
Mashood Kamaldeen from Government Secondary School, Jimoh Emmanuel from Tanke Community Junior Secondary School in Ilorin South, and Jatto Ramatallahi from Offa Grammar School are among the six students.
Dolapo Mariam (Offa Grammar School, Offa); AbdulKareem Uswat (Okelele JSS, Ilorin East); and Emmanuel Chioma (St. Anthony JSS, Ilorin East) are the others.
The governor congratulated them and their parents on the feat, saying the state government would continue to monitor their educational career to succeed.
“Once again, I congratulate the victorious pupils of the 2023 Presidential School Debate of Nigeria. We are happy about the feat. You have made us proud in Kwara. We are committed to your progress and we will continue to monitor that,” he said.
Mr AbdulRazaq said that billions of naira would be committed in 2024 to various educational and hygiene programmes, such as Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment and WASH, to aid learning and improve the safety of pupils in schools.
He said, “We will continue to make sure you, and indeed every Kwara child, have a very conducive environment to learn. That is why Kwara is one of the states that engage in the FG/World Bank-supported AGILE project. We shall be making full advocacy about other programmes the state has subscribed to over the coming months as well.’’.
He thanked the management and staff members of SUBEB for the “remarkable improvement in their commitment to work,” and pledged his continued support to the agency to sustain the tempo.
Along with thanking the state’s traditional institutions for their support, Mr. AbdulRazaq asked for their continued engagement and recommendations on how to enhance the quality of services provided to the education sector.
Prof. Raheem Adaramaja, the Chairman of SUBEB, expressed gratitude to the governor for honouring his pledge to the debate champions.
Mr. Adaramaja pledged that the students will return the favour by winning another prize in upcoming contests.
He noted that later in July 2024, in the European Republic of Serbia, the six lucky winners would represent Nigeria at the World School Debate Championship.