PAAYEF presents cash to winners of spelling bee, quiz competition »

Winners of the Pharmacist Abdulkareem Asuku Youth Empowerment Foundation (PAAYEF) Inter-School competition today received various cash sums donated by friends of PAAYEF during the just concluded competition.

Schools that participated in the spelling bee competition held in commemoration of Pharm. Asuku’s two years in office as chief of staff to the Governor of Kogi State also received their cash donations.

In a brief ceremony which held in Lokoja on Friday October 22nd, the Focal Person of PAAYEF, Hon. Sandra Mimi said the foundation is pursuing the passion that Pharmacist Asuku and his principal Governor Yahaya Bello has for educational advancement in the state, adding that the donations from friends of PAAYEF has gone a long way to prove that the competition is having the needed impact.

She commended the donors for their magnanimity and for supporting a worthy cause which he said would encourage seriousness in studies. She also called on the beneficiaries to reinvest the money into improving themselves and their respective schools.

In his welcome address, the Kogi State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Hon. Wemi Jones, said PAAYEF has set a record which is unprecedented in recent history. He said the inter-school competition has gone a long way in renewing the hopes of parents, students and other stakeholders in the the sector.

He said impressed by the impact of the PAAYEF competition, Governor Yahaya Bello has pledged to increase the budgetary allocation for education from 20 to 30 percent starting with the 2022 budget, a feat which he described as unprecedented in the entire country. This he noted underscored the commitment of the New Direction administration to the overall development of the education sector in Kogi State.

Read also:PAAYEF Inter-School Competition: Winners clinch higher institution scholarships, SSCE fees, other prizes https://tinyurl.com/yjrn56ag

The Chairman of All Nigerian Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), Mr. Robert Awodi who is also the Principal of Our Lady of School, Anyigba, commended Pharmacist Asuku and PAAYEF management for reawakening the reading culture in students and for rewarding excellence.

Being one of the benefiting schools, the principal of Our Lady of schools said he would ensure the sustainability of academic excellence in his school, adding that his school has resolved to honor her three participants by making each of them honorary principals of the school for three days starting from next week.

Recall that donations of #2,000,000 was made by Alh. Muri Yakubu, the Personal Assistant to the Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni to all the schools that reached the finals, while an earlier gesture of #1,500,000 was donated to students and schools who participated in the spelling bee by the Commissioner for Works and Housing, Engineer Abubakar Ohere. Dr. Usman Ogbo, Rector of Kogi State Polytechnic also made a donation of #100,000. Hon. Otayitie Ememafo donated the sum of #35,000 to the students in camp, while Jimoh Saidat Oziohu, Coordinator, Female Students Association of Nigeria, Kogi Chapter and Robert Awodi, Principal of Our Lady of School, Anyigba donated exercise books.

Outside this cash gifts, PAAYEF also rewarded the victorious students in the oral quiz with school fees for the session, WAEC, NECO fees and Jamb fees alongside scholarship to any government universities in Nigeria, while second and third positions would also have their school fees, WAEC and NECO fees, Jamb fees paid for.