KADUNA STATE GOVT PAID 236.8 MILLION NAIRA IN LOCAL BURSARY TO STUDENTS IN 2020 DESPITE COVID; RESUMES PAYMENT AS SCHOOLS REOPEN.{PHOTO}.#PRESS RELEASE.

 

Kaduna State paid a total of N236,839,948 (Two hundred and thirty six million, eight hundred and thirty nine thousand, nine hundred and forty eight Naira) to over 2000 students in the year 2020.

This payment was made to successful bursary applicants for the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 sessions studying across various Nigerian tertiary institutions. The payments were made in tranches as follows:

1. 273 students received N26,984,708 in January 2020

2. 855 students received N91,436,240 in February 2020

3. 822 students received N89,105,000 in March 2020

Although payments stopped as the country plunged into the Covid-19 induced lockdown, payments immediately continued afterwards as 273 students received N29,314,000 In November 2020.

The board reiterates its commitment towards paying all the successful applicants but certain factors remain serious impediments towards fulfilling such commitments, such factors include;

1. BVN Issues: While students keep complaining about issues around delay in payments, it should be noted that most of the faults for such delay could be attributed to the students. Currently, we have 294 students(across both 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 application phases) and 1436 students(for the 2019/2020 phase) that have either submitted wrong BVN or have submitted BVNs whose details(e.g Dates of Birth) are conflicting with the details they supplied during the bursary application. Students with such discrepancies in details cannot be passed for payments to avoid payments to students with false identities. The board has countlessly released statements calling the attention of the students affected but such statements received little attention.

2. Student Bank Accounts: Some students submitted account numbers to bank accounts that cannot receive more than N100,000 at an instance. Hence, the money usually bounce back as the payments are made.

Considering Kaduna State’s approval for the opening of tertiary institutions, the board would immediately continue disbursement of funds as there are 587 students currently ready for disbursement across 2017/2018, 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 application phases.

The board wishes to call on the attention of applicants to always provide correct information while doing their applications. The board also encourage students who have issues with their BVN or Bank Accounts to rectify such issues like difference between the date of birth submitted to the bank and the one submitted to the board as such issues are the only obstacles that is preventing them from getting paid. Within ten days of rectifying the issue in the bank, they should go back to their profile and revalidate their bvn.

For the 512 students whose names were removed from the 2017/2018 batch B payment list on the account of being paid in the batch A, kindly be informed that the investigation is still on going at the Office of the Auditor General and you will get a feedback from the board immediately the investigation gets concluded. We understand it has taken too long but we are liasing with them. We promise to make sure closure is brought to this matter this year.

Students should also be informed that the bursary application for 2020/2021 is open. Hence, the board strongly encourages students of Kaduna State across all Nigerian tertiary institutions to apply by visiting https://kdsg-scholarship.com/ and apply immediately.