Subsidy Removal: Niger to Introduce Free Transport for Students

Laleye Dipo in Minna

The Niger state Government would introduce free transport for students as part of steps to cushion the effects of the removal of subsidy from petrol.

Governor Muhammed Umar Bago disclosed this when he received the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of  the National Examination Council (NECO) Professor Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, and other principal  officers of the organisation at the Government House.

Bago, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Bologi Ibrahim, said that the policy would also encourage out of school children to go back to school.

According the governor, “the free transportation for children at the basic level of education will encourage pupils to go to school at the basic education level and also cushion the effect of subsidy removal.”

He appealed to NECO to collaborate with the state government in its effort to address the challenge posed by out-of-school children and girl-child education, pointing out that the use of ICT in the education sector would go a long way to solve the problem.

Bago also urged the examination body “to find ways of supporting vocational trainings in the education sector so as to have students that are self-reliant.

The governor assured the delegation of the readiness of the state government to support the examination body but asked it to also carry out projects and programmes in the state as part of its social responsibility.

Earlier, Wushishi had congratulated the governor on his inauguration before assuring him of the readiness of NECO to partner with the state government for the development of education in the state.