Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi has directed the reduction of the tuition fees being paid by students of Ebonyi State University Abakaliki (EBSU), IgbereTV reports.
In a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SGG), Dr Kenneth Ugbala, Umahi directed the reduction of N10,000 from the fees being paid by every non-indigene student of the school while N20,000 was reduced from the fees of the students who are indigenes of the state.
The statement said the Governor took the decision because of effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economies of every family.
He stated that the new fees, which take effect from the 2020/2021 academic year, will be paid anytime from next year.
“Ebonyi State Government is aware of the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the world economies of which Ebonyi State is highly affected.
“We know that the finances of our people are highly affected which will in effect, affect the education of our children.
“To lessen the burdens on our parents especially in catering for the students of Ebonyi State University and encourage more of our students to go to university, the Governor has effective 2020/2021 academic session reduced the school fees of Ebonyi State University from year 1 to 5th year as follows:
“All non-indigenes of Ebonyi State University School fees reduced by Ten thousand Naira (#10,000.00) per student.
“All indigenes of Ebonyi State in Ebonyi State University school fees reduced by Twenty Thousand Naira (#20, 000.00) per student.
“This amount will be aggregated and paid directly to Ebonyi State University management sometime in 2021
“Note that last week, Ebonyi State Government released all monthly subventions owed to Ebonyi State University and additional Two Hundred Million Naira (#200, 000,000.00) Salary intervention fund totalling Five Hundred Million Naira (#500,000,000.00) to assist in staff salary payment off Ebonyi State University.
“This sacrifice will be affecting some other government programmes like infrastructure development and provision of medical services in the state as they have become opportunity cost.
“We request our young ones to start the process of registering themselves 200 per LGA to benefit from the #ENDSARS Empowerment fund which will be launched in November 2020,” Ugbala said in the statement.
