OGINIBO, DELTA STATE— In a major intervention for rural education, the Delta State Commissioner for Functions (Highways and Urban Roadways), Hon. Izeze Rume Reuben, in collaboration with FOOSTODEY Associates, has actually fully sponsored the National Assessment Council (NECO) registration costs for 65 final-year trainees at Oginibo Secondary School.
The initiative, valued at over 2.2 million, aims to ease the financial burden on parents and make sure that no trainee in the community is denied the opportunity to sit for the senior secondary certificate examination.
The sponsorship follows a strategic effort led by the Commissioner to reactivate the school’s NECO examination centre, which had been previously shut down.
After an assessment by the NECO zonal office in 2025, the centre was restored to official status, enabling students to take their tests locally for the first time in years.
The intervention began when the Commissioner’s attention was drawn to the deactivation of the school’s examination centre by his Special Assistant, Tisha Ejekanshe Matthew.
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Following the successful repair of the centre, Izeze and FOOSTODEY Associates vowed to cover the 33,850 registration charge for each of the 65 pioneering candidates.
Representing the sponsors during an address at the school, Mr. Matthew advised the beneficiaries to validate the investment through scholastic quality.
“You must remain focused, form reading groups, and prepare vigilantly,” he advised, keeping in mind that the goal of the sponsorship is to develop a level playing field for students in rural Oginibo and its neighboring areas.
While celebrating the sponsorship, the School Principal, Evelyn Omejevwe-Ejiofor, raised a crucial alarm concerning the state of grassroots education.
She noted that regardless of the Commissioner’s personal contributions that include paying allowances for neighborhood instructors for the past two years, the school remains precariously understaffed.
The Principal gotten in touch with the Delta State Federal government to declare a “state of emergency” in grassroots education to attend to the scarcity of qualified subject teachers in rural neighborhoods.
The overall sponsorship package of 2,200,250 has actually been described as “life-altering” by the school management, as a lot of the beneficiaries’ parents would have struggled to fulfill the due date.
The gesture enhances a growing trend of “community-first” philanthropy amongst public workplace holders in the state.
The school principal concluded by attracting other stakeholders to emulate the Commissioner’s example, stressing that facilities and exam fees are just part of the equation; the recruitment of permanent, competent teachers remains the most pressing need for long-term scholastic success in Oginibo.