Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, yesterday approved the abolition of all fees and levies at senior secondary schools across the state.

He said the policy would ease the burden of fee payment on parents and guardians as part of effort to cushion the effect of the recent increase in the pump price of petrol.

In addition, he said senior secondary school students were to receive 10 free notebooks per session from the state government.

Announcing the palliatives in Ilorin through a statement issued yesterday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Dr. Muideen Akorede, Ahmed said the measure was to assist the people of the state in view of the recent increase in the fuel price starting with the education sector.

He said the government had also finalised arrangement to release the details of welfare packages in other sectors.

"With this development, primary and post-primary education is now free in Kwara State with immediate effect," he said.

He added that, "In addition, senior secondary school students are to receive ten free notebooks per session courtesy of the state government."

At the tertiary education level, Governor Ahmed approved a N50,000 reduction in fees for indigenes at the state-owned Kwara State University (KWASU) with effect from next session.

He said qualifying students would now pay N99, 500 while students of the state university were also to benefit from a new mass transit system under which government would allocate two new buses each on routes to the university as well to University of Ilorin and the Kwara State Polytechnic.

Ahmed said the first set of palliatives was targeted at youths due to the fact that they constitute the largest segment of the state population and based on his administration's emphasis on youth empowerment.

He said additional measures targeted at the larger population would be rolled out once the modalities were concluded.

The governor however restated his determination to consistently implement proactive and timely welfare programs to improve the well-being of the people of Kwara.