The Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday bickered over the 2025 budget presentation by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.
While presenting the N540 billion proposal to the state House of Assembly on Friday last week, AbdulRazaq had reportedly said the government funded the examinations of over 50,000 children.
However, on Tuesday, the Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development described the claim as a ‘mix up and owned up to it’, adding that the ‘misrepresentation’ was ‘inserted into the budget speech by the ministry’.
It further clarified that: “What the state government paid for was the Placement Common Entrance Examination and also subsidised the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for Junior Secondary School students.
“The state government, through our ministry, only conducted the Pre-WAEC and NECO activities. It did not fund these examinations. They are sponsored by the parents”, according to the statement by Peter Amogbonjaye, Press Secretary of the ministry.
However, on Thursday, the PDP accused the governor of falsification and demanded that he apologise to Kwarans.
In a statement by its publicity secretary, Olusegun Adewara, the party expressed shock over the development and criticised the state legislature for its “failure to hold the government accountable and summon relevant ministry officials over the issue”.
“The false claims of sponsoring over 66,000 Kwara children for entrance examinations, 58,420 for BECE, 28,500 for WAEC, and 27,000 for NECO is a gross disrespect to the Assembly and the entire people of Kwara State.
“The fact that ministry officials have confirmed these figures as ‘manufactured’ speaks volumes and reveals that the cabinet lacked the capacity to deliver good governance.”
In a phone chat on Thursday night, the state APC chairman, Prince Sunday Fagbemi, took a swipe at the opposition party, saying it can’t return to power through propaganda.
He said: “The relevant ministry has owned up to it and exonerated the governor. Are they saying the governor should set up an investigating committee to verify what has been presented to him when they are professionals there?
“The PDP are just looking for cheap publicity and sourcing for what to criticize unreasonably. It has never offered any constructive criticism. If they believe that is the way to play politics, let them continue but this is not the way they can take over the government because Kwarans are not fools.”
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