The Senator representing Ogun West and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, has sponsored the registration of 2,000 indigent students for the May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
This follows a similar gesture by the senator, who recently paid the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board examination fees for 4,000 indigent students to ensure that qualified candidates gain access to tertiary education without delay.
The senator’s media adviser, Chief Kayode Odunaro, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists on Thursday.
Odunaro stated that the number of beneficiaries could have exceeded 2,000, but was limited due to the inability of some students to obtain their Learners’ Identification Number before the deadline set by the West African Examinations Council, which expired on Tuesday night.
The statement added that the indigent students, whose parents and guardians could not afford the fees, were drawn from 218 schools across the state. The schools include 90 from Ogun West Senatorial District, 68 from Ogun East Senatorial District, and 60 from Ogun Central Senatorial District.
It further noted that Abeokuta South and Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Areas recorded the highest number of beneficiaries, with 416 and 403 students respectively.
Adeola was quoted as saying that he became aware of the students’ plight during discussions with some constituents who had earlier commended him for sponsoring free JAMB registration for students.
The lawmaker explained that if he had been informed earlier, before the WAEC registration deadline, more students would have benefited from the intervention.
He said, “I got to know about the plight of these students from a top government official from my district who told me that just as many parents and guardians could not afford the cheaper JAMB fee of N7,200, many others also could not pay the higher examination fee for their wards.
“For me, as a guiding principle, finance must not be an impediment to the educational advancement of my people. I decided to intervene immediately. The number of beneficiaries would have been higher but for the closing date.”
Adeola added that he would continue to support human capital development through the facilitation of educational infrastructure, scholarships and bursary schemes, as well as personal philanthropic gestures such as the payment of examination fees for students whose parents cannot afford them.
Principals of schools that benefited from the initiative reportedly commended the senator, describing the gesture as a huge relief for many brilliant students who might have missed the qualifying examination due to a lack of funds.