The Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Mr. Olusegun Odubela, on Thursday said the state government had spent N25bn on providing free education.
He, however, said the money was spent between May 2012 and April 2014.
He said this in Abeokuta at a briefing marking the third year of the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led administration in office.
He said of the amount, N16bn was spent on payment of salaries and allowances of both teaching and non-teaching staff in primary and secondary schools in the state.
Odubela, who did not disclose the actual amount spent on its 28 model schools across the state, said “the project has gulped millions of naira and a few of them are nearing completion.”
He explained that 15 of these schools were nearing completion, with each having a carrying capacity of 1,000 pupils.
He noted that the Amosun administration had sustained its free education policy in public primary and secondary schools, with the abolition of tuition and other forms of levies.
He stated that N1.8bn was spent on the purchase of textbooks distributed to public primary and secondary schools pupils, while N750m was expended on provision of instructional materials.
Other expenses on education, according to the commissioner, include N58m spent to offset the 2011/2012 Junior School Certificate Examination fees while N53m was expended on the same examination in 2012/2013.
Odubela said the ministry also spent N.6m on training of teachers, while it spent N15m on Spelling Bee competition in 2012.
