21,193 students in Lagos pass WASCE, says Fashola

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, western Nigeria, on Saturday said 21,193 out of the 51,604 students in the state public schools, who sat for the 2013 May/June WAEC, had credits in five subjects.

Fashola revealed this in Ikeja while speaking at a programme to commemorate the 2,300 days of his administration.

Fashola said that the five subjects included English Language and Mathematics.

He said the performance translated into 41.06 per cent pass rate, adding that it was an improvement on the 39 per cent recorded in 2012.

Fashola said that the performance showed that the various government interventions in education, especially the “Secondary School EKO Project, paid off.”

“If one recalls that we started with a pass rate of seven per cent in 2007,one will appreciate how far we have come, to now record an over 41 per cent pass rate.

“Similarly, the results of our 2013 JSS placement examination showed that more pupils are getting into our secondary schools as 95,255 candidates passed.

“This translates into 96 per cent pass rate and the number of candidates who passed almost doubles the 49,316 that we had in 2012.

“All of these are indeed good news for us and it only means that, as far as our children’s education is concerned, we are heading in the right direction,” he said.

Fashola, however, said that the government would not rest on its oars, as it would continue to give attention to schools’ infrastructure and other essentials to improve performance.The governor appealed to stakeholders, especially proprietors of private schools, to co-operate with the state government in delivering qualitative education in the state.He urged proprietors to adhere to approved curriculums and uphold other standards prescribed by government.

“I also use this occasion to appeal for the co-operation of all school proprietors towards achieving a unified school calendar for our state. “We expect all our schools, whether government or privately owned, to open on the same day and close on the same day. “There are many positive consequences for these- ranging from transportation, planning, career development and we hope they will show understanding and comply,” he said.

Fashola said the various sectors of governance had recorded positive development in the last 100 days.He said his administration, through support for the police, had been able to keep crime rate at bay, adding that some criminals who had terrorised the state had been nabbed.

Fashola stated that the judiciary had been able to secure landmark judgments for the state during the period.

He listed some of the favourable judgments as the Supreme Court’s verdict which gave the control of hotels to the state and the one ordering the National Population Commission (NPC) to conduct fresh census in 14 local government areas.

Fashola said the state government had filed an appeal against the acquittal of former Chief Security Officer (CSO), to late Gen. Sanni Abacha, Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha, by the Appeal Court.

“We filed an appeal because we place premium on human lives and that the families of the victims deserve the right to agitate the matter at the highest, “he said.

The governor said over 200 inner city roads were being constructed across the state and some roads, including the 7km Ibeshe road in Ikorodu had been delivered.

Fashola said the health and transportation sectors had equally witnessed positive developments in the last 100 days with the provision of more health facilities and additional BRT buses in the state.

The governor restated his administration’s commitment to deliver more development to residents and urged them to pay their taxes to facilitate this.

The occasion was attended by a former governor of the state, Alhaji Lateef Jakande and Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu among others.