The Executive Governor of Niger State, Mohammed Umaru Bago, has declared tuition-free education for the 809 newly admitted students of the Abdulkadir Kure University, Minna (AKUM).

According to a Thursday statement signed by Bologi Ibrahim, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Niger State, Bago announced during the Matriculation ceremony of the 809 students of the University for the 2024/2025 academic session.

The farmer governor, as fondly called, also announced that 2% of the total investment of the state will be used as an endowment for the university.

Governor Bago said the state is willing to come up with initiatives that will make the university blossom and become a model to others; hence, he has cancelled the decision to send students abroad on scholarship.

“It is not wrong for a leader to make a statement and retract the statement. We had a vision to take some students to a foreign land on scholarship, but today, I have cancelled that decision. I will rather invest the money budgeted for the foreign scholarship here,” he said.

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He said a housing estate for staff and lecturers will be built, and that Medicine and Medical Sciences will commence from the next academic session.

He congratulated the matriculated students and urged them to be good ambassadors of their families, and promised them a bursary of N100,000 each.

The Vice Chancellor of AKUM, Prof. Mohammed Aliyu Paiko, said the 809 students should see their matriculation as the commencement of a transformative experience that will shape their future, adding that the institution intends to equip its students with skills and innovative mindsets to enable them to become job creators and build enterprises.

He acknowledged the efforts of Farmer Governor, especially with his green economy initiative, which has resonated globally in response to climate issues, and stated that AKUM is keying into that initiative to produce students who would pioneer sustainable agriculture, biotechnology, medical environmental sciences, ICT, AI, and renewable energy, among others, to ensure environmental stability.

The Pro Chancellor of AKUM, Prof. Muhammad Yahaya Kuta, described Farmer Governor Umaru Bago as a visionary who has not only keyed into infrastructural development but is also investing in the younger generation through education, pointing out that the knowledge industry is ruling the world.