Lagos sponsors N1.5 billion WAEC fees for 58,188 students
The Lagos State Government has settled N1.5 billion in West African Examinations Council (WAEC) fees on behalf of 58,188 verified students for the 2024 to 2025 period.
Jamiu Tolani Alli-Balogun, the Commissioner for Basic Primary and Secondary School Education, revealed this and also mentioned the creation of 17 new schools within the span of one year.
He disclosed this on Thursday during the 2025 ministerial briefing, where he outlined the ministry’s performance over the past year at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre in Alausa, Ikeja.
The commissioner noted that the newly established schools include two primary schools, 10 junior secondary schools, and five senior secondary schools.
He also reported that a total of 17,575 students had been successfully moved from both private and public schools into Junior Secondary School II (JSII) and Senior Secondary School I (SSI) within the state.
He explained that paying WAEC fees is one of the measures by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to ease the financial pressure on parents through the free education policy.
“It is on this note that I urge and encourage students, more importantly, students in our boarding schools, to take full advantage of this initiative, as education is a lifelong journey,” he said.
Regarding the 2025 payments, he added that to avoid unnecessary spending and maintain transparency, a biometric data capture and image registration process was carried out for 56,134 Senior Secondary III students to properly identify those qualified for the 2025 WASSCE sponsorship by the Lagos State Government.
