Kaduna State governor, Uba Sani has said his administration has invested over N1 billion in scholarships, student loans and educational support programmes over the last three years.
The government said the investment has expanded access to higher education and eased the financial burden on students across the state.
The commissioner for Information and Culture, Malam Ahmed Maiyaki, who made the disclosure during an interaction with journalists in Kaduna yesterday, described education as a key pillar of Governor Uba Sani’s human capital development agenda.
According to him, one of the administration’s landmark interventions was the signing of an Executive Order reducing tuition fees by 50 per cent across all Kaduna State-owned tertiary institutions, a move aimed at making higher education more affordable and accessible to students from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.
Maiyaki revealeZHe added that the administration’s investments in education were aimed at building a skilled workforce capable of driving innovation, economic growth and sustainable development, while ensuring that no deserving student is denied access to higher education due to financial constraints.
Providing further details, the Executive Secretary of the Kaduna State Scholarship and Loans Board, Prof. Yahaya Saleh Ibrahim, said the scholarship programme has benefited over 21,106 students studying in more than 40 higher institutions, including federal and state universities, polytechnics, monotechnics, colleges of education, colleges of health technology and nursing schools.
“The Kaduna State Scholarship Scheme under Governor Uba Sani has witnessed unprecedented growth and transformation over the last three years. Kaduna became the first state in Nigeria to provide not only scholarships but also student loans, expanding access to higher education for thousands of young people,” Prof. Ibrahim said.
He noted that Kaduna State has emerged as a national model in educational support by becoming the first state in Nigeria to operate both scholarship and student loan schemes on a broad scale.