JamzNG Latest News, Gist, Entertainment in Nigeria
By Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
Governor Ahmed Ododo has suspended the disbursement of N646.8 million grant allowance to 20,347 verified Kogi State students in tertiary institutions across the country under the second season of his student support programme.
The awards ceremony, themed “Governor Ododo Students Support Season 2”, was held on Thursday at the Banquet Hall, Government House, Lokoja.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Chairman of the Kogi State Scholarship Board, KSSB, Afolabi Joseph-Raji, said the Ododo administration had revived the scholarship program which was last paid in 2019 and resumed it in 2024 with a 150% increase.
According to him, the allowance has been increased from N12,000 to N30,000 per student, while medical students who were receiving N18,000 will now receive N75,000 each.
Afolabi Joseph-Raji, said the first tranche of the grant is $403 million which would cover 13,157 students studying in tertiary institutions within the state
He said the governor abolished the old practice of students paying N650 for scratch cards to access the portal without guarantee of payment, and stipulated that the application must be free, paperless, online and transparent.
Joseph-Raji disclosed that in the 2024/2025 session, the Council disbursed N256.4 million to 8,549 undergraduate students at N30,000 each and N60.3 million to law faculty students at N300,000 each, besides other scholarships totaling N261 million.
He said the Council, which did not have an operational vehicle for campus verification, has now been provided with a seven-seater utility vehicle to facilitate mobilisation.
He added that to deepen the engagement, the Council introduced the Governor Ododo Campus quiz challenge and radio quiz challenge airing every Saturday at noon on Confluence 94.1 FM, where students win up to N5,000.
Joseph-Raji announced that 20,347 students have been selected and verified for the 2025/2026 scholarship, with undergraduate students receiving N30,000 each and medical students N75,000 each.
He explained that the payment will be phased, starting with students from institutions within Kogi State, while students from over 300 institutions outside the state, including UniAbuja, ABU Zaria, UNIJOS and BUK, will be paid in the second tranche.
In his speech, the Councilor for Education, the Hon. Wemi Jones, commended the leadership of the National Association of Kogi State Students, NAKOSS, for their patience and peaceful conduct during the delay.
He said education has the highest allocation in the state budget at 30%, describing it as proof of the governor’s passion for education. He said Governor Ododo belongs to the youth constituency and would personally attend but was absent following the death of a former governor.
The Commissioner credited former governor Yahaya Bello for establishing CUSTECH Osara and KSU Kabba within four years, stressing that with three functioning state universities, plus the Polytechnic, Colleges of Education, Nursing, Health Sciences and the Nigeria-Korea Friendship Institute, Kogi is now self-sufficient in tertiary education.
Jones described the jump from 8,000 applicants in Season 1 to over 20,000 verified beneficiaries in Season 2, an increase of more than 130%, as monumental.
He also listed other interventions by the state government, including payment of Common Entry, Basic Six, BECE, WAEC for SS3 students in public schools and NABTEB for technical school students, as well as free CBT training for SS3 students.
He urged students to take advantage of the federal government’s NELFUND loan program, noting that only a few students at the event indicated they had benefited from it.
Responding on behalf of the students, the outgoing NAKOSS President, Comrade Sunday Adeola Simon, thanked Governor Ododo for the intervention, saying it goes beyond financial assistance to demonstrate that the well-being of students remains a priority.
Simon said that although the application withdrawn in September 2025 saw some delays with enormous pressure on the student leadership, they chose dialogue and responsible representation and rejected calls to confront the government through violence and propaganda.
He affirmed the continued support of Kogi students to the administration, appealing to the governor to also include Kogi students attending schools outside the state and those of the Nigeria Law School in the disbursement so that no student is left behind.
Also present at the event was the President of Kogi State Students Medical Association, Comrade Abdulmalik Abdulmalik.
Post views:
127
