Wife of the Rivers State Governor, Lady Valerie Siminalayi Fubara, has presented 50,000 copies of exercise books to the Ministry of Education and the Rivers State Universal Basic Education Board for distribution to public schools in the state.
The State Commissioner for Education, Prof Chinedu Mmon and the Executive Chairman of the Rivers State Universal Basic Education Board, Venerable Fyneface Akah, received the books on behalf of the beneficiaries.
Speaking at the occasion held at the Banquet Hall Annex, Government House, Port Harcourt, last Monday, Lady Fubara stated that the programme is part of the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) of the wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, geared towards advancing and sustaining quality education that uplift and give hope to Nigerians.
She said, “My joy is fundamentally hinged on the fact that our State is fortunate to be a beneficiary of the programmes of the Renewed Hope Initiative of the Wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.”
According to her, “While we have earlier flagged off an empowerment scheme for the elderly in this same place, today, we are here to set off a valuable programme in support of education through the provision of free exercise books to children in our dear State.
“The presentation of these 50,000 copies of exercise books is, therefore, synergic in promoting quality education for a better Nigeria. So, it is gratifying that children are the prime beneficiaries of this particular scheme.
“These exercise books should be distributed only to pupils and students in public schools in the 23 Local Government Areas of the State,” she emphasized.
The Wife of the Governor described the event as significant, in recognition of the fact that education is one of the key priority areas of the Governor Siminalayi Fubara-led Administration.
She also commended the wife of the President for extending love to the State, emphasizing that the initiative will no doubt make Rivers State and Nigeria better.
“This event is quite significant and dear to our State as education is one of the cardinal pillars of the Administration of our Governor, my husband, Sir Siminalayi Fubara.
“I must, therefore, express my profound gratitude to the wife of the President for extending this love to our State. The initiative is in line with our determined efforts of advancing and sustaining quality education that uplift and give hope to our people. It is an initiative that will make Rivers State and Nigeria better,” she added.
In his remarks, the State Commissioner for Education, Prof Chinedu Mmom, who noted the challenges faced by parents in training their children in schools, thanked the wife of the Governor for the initiative, saying that the gesture will go a long way in reducing the burden on parents.
Also speaking, a representative of the schools, Mr Tobin Micah, noted that the books will help in reducing monies spent by parents in the purchase of books, and assured that the books will be judiciously distributed to all the public primary and secondary schools in the state.
Highlights of the event were the handing over of the books to the Commissioner by the State’s First Lady, as well as the presentation of copies of the books to some students of various schools in the State.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has revealed that two suspects, a father and his son, were arrested for their alleged involvement in impersonation during the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
This was just as the Board added that no fewer than 1.94 million candidates sat for the 2024 examinations across the country.
The JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, made this known to newsmen shortly after monitoring the exam at the Kaduna State University CBT Centre, Kaduna, last Wednesday.
The JAMB boss refrained from disclosing the identities of the parent and their child, as well as the location of the reported malpractice.
He said, “For those who engage in cheating, they should know that it does not pay.
“The technology is helping us to check that.
“Across the country, most of the problems we have is impersonation. For instance, now, we say we have NIN, we now have cases of people with two NINs and therefore that has defeated the purpose of identity verification.
“We are going to take that up with NIMC that there are people who have two NINs.
“We have a case of a father impersonating his son, writing an examination for the son and I wonder, are you not destroying your son’s future?
“Of course, two of them are now in custody. I can’t understand what the father will now tell his son when they are both locked up in the same cell.
“This happened definitely not in Kaduna, but I don’t want to disclose the state.
“So, it is largely cases of impersonation, but we are ahead of them; we are just picking them up like chicken now because the facilities are there for us to see what they are doing and to pick them up.”
He noted that at the end of the examination yesterday, there would be less than 100,000 candidates remaining in Lagos, Benue and other states in the country.
He added that JAMB’s improved technology made the exercise smoother and faster.
“Today, I have seen something which we need to improve on, but most importantly, we have done so many things in the background to make the exercise faster, more efficient and better. We have increased the level of automation.
“This year, 1.94 million candidates are writing UTME. By the end of today, we would have less than 100,000 remaining.
“By the end of today, what will be remaining will be Lagos, Makurdi and other few places in the country,” he added.
Meanwhile, the JAMB Registrar also commended parents for their behaviour during the conduct of the 2024 UTME exercise, noting that there was no parent intrusion, unlike the previous year when some parents flocked to the various computer-based centres during the exams.
“There is no report this year of parents intruding, except in one state. In that state, they felt that since the first session failed, their children should not continue with the second or other sessions,” he noted.
Oloyede also used the opportunity to inform those who have missed the exam, for reasons not caused by the examination body, to forget about it, saying that JAMB cannot spend tens of millions of the nation’s resources to reorganise a session for a few candidates who missed the exams due to their personal recklessness.
“Most of those candidates who missed the UTME are students from hostels who were made to register through schools because of the money the schools want to collect from the parents in the name of JAMB.
“They would now put 30 students in one bus. They will now be dropping them off in different locations. By the time they get to the last student’s centre, he is already late for the exam.
“You will now see the principal writing to me. What business do I have with a school?”, he asked.

The Federal Government has recovered the sum of N57 billion out of the N5.2 trillion liabilities owed the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) by various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
The Permanent Secretary, Special Duties, Federal Ministry of Finance Mr. Okokon Udo disclosed this, yesterday, at the sensitisation workshop on Federal Government Debt Recovery Drive through Project Lighthouse Programme, in Enugu.
Mr. Udo who was represented by the Director of Special Duties, Mrs. Aisha Omar, stated that the debts came to the spotlight from data aggregated from over 5,000 debtors across over 93 MDAs.
He added that the government equally received refunds from companies who failed to deliver on projects for which payment had been made.
The Director of Information and Public Relations, Mr. Mohammed Manga, quoted the Perm. Sec. as saying, “I actualising the debt recovery goal, the Federal Ministry of Finance initiated Project Lighthouse, which has enabled the aggregation of relevant economic and financial information from multiple agencies who hitherto did not share data.”
Udo explained, “Generally, revenue loopholes have been aided by poor information sharing and enforcement. It may interest you to note that the Ministry, through the consolidation efforts of the Debt Analytics and Reporting Application, has been able to aggregate monumental debts of approximately N5.2 trillion.
“The debt aggregation effort is still ongoing. Currently, approximately N57 billion has been recovered so far due to concerted efforts on the part of stakeholders and the FG.”
Details of the recovery included unpaid credit facilities granted to both corporate entities and individuals by the Bank of Industry (BOI), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), and Judgment Debt in favor of government and debts owed Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) by insurance companies amongst others.
Udo added that data from Project Lighthouse revealed that many companies and individuals, who owed government agencies and refused to honour their obligations were still being pursued.
This, he said, was done through government platforms such as GIFMIS and Treasury Single Account (TSA).