News
Illegal Fees Rock Public Schools In Rivers
In spite of the laudable efforts being made by the Rivers State Government towards ensuring access to education to all children of school age through its free education policy, there are emerging indications that some of those entrusted with the management of the public schools are compromising the free education programme.
Investigations by The Tide show that various fees are being charged by some of the school heads thereby defrauding parents whose children and wards study in these public schools.
In some public schools visited by our investigators, parents were being asked to pay some huge sums of money in the name of registration fees, examination fees and school uniforms.
At Community Secondary School, Rumuapara in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, parents were asked to pay N15,000 registration fee for any child entering into JSS III.
Apart from that, such child is also expected to purchase one shovel and a knife or pay a total of N1,500.
The Tide gathered that there is no receipt covering the fees as a ploy to cover the fraud. The explanation by the authorities is that the N15,000 covers school uniform and sports wears.
When asked if the government was aware of the fees, the reply was, “yes, the government is aware. We don’t give receipt but we submit the list of those who paid to the Ministry of Education for accountability.”
The respondent, who would not give her name, remarked that they spend much on security of the school and in keeping the premises clean for condusive academic activities.
In most public schools in Etche Local Government Area and other remote areas of the state, various forms of illegal fees are being paid by parents, as a pupil is made to pay N750.00 per term in the name of examination fees.
A parent, who spoke to our correspondent explained that her children forfeited terminal examinations for her inability to pay up the examination fee.
“I don’t understand what examination fee means when our government has given the state free education. Does it mean that setting and marking examination papers are not part of the jobs of the teachers?” she queried.
The parent, a widow, who does not want her name in print for fear of reprisal actions on her children, pleaded with the state government, particularly the authorities of Ministry of Education to make public all fees not covered by the free education policy as a guide to parents.
She equally enjoined school supervisors to wake up from their slumber and uncover those behind the illegal fees as well as those in authority giving them cover.
Meanwhile, contrary to insinuations that Rivers State Government-owned computers at the Model Primary School, Rukpokwu in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area have been removed from the offices, the head teacher said all the computers sent to the school were intact.
The Head Teacher, Eli Nwankwoala who made the clarification to The Tide in his office, explained that a total of 44 computer sets sent to the school as part of the ICT initiative of the state government were complete and in use. He, however, said, few of them were affected by a resent surge of electric power, nothing that even at that, the sets were still in the school and not removed to anywhere.
The school head, who took our reporter through the classes and the computer pool, remarked that, “one computer for the instructor, 13 for the class teachers and 30 for pupils, all amounting to 44 given to the school, are all present.”
He advised members of the public to discountenance the rumour as such insinuation could only come from enemies of progress and emphatically stated that the security in the school is tight, while stressing that it is untrue that the computers had been removed.
Chris Oluoh
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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