Akwa Ibom State Governor Umo Eno has promised to raise the annual bursary for students in public tertiary institutions from N50,000 to N200,000 if he wins a second term.
He made the pledge on Wednesday in Uyo. He was speaking at a fireside chat on the second day of the Ibom Ignite 2026 Conference at Ibom Hall.
The new rate would take effect if he wins the February 2027 governorship election. He would then be sworn in on May 29, 2027.
Eno said the increase would help students from poor homes pay their school expenses. He said he came from a similar background himself.
“We started by paying bursary, we moved it, it’s now 50,000 for every student,” he said. “As we come back May 29, 2027, our young people who come from the kind of background I came from can at least pay their tuition. Bursary will move to 200,000.”
The governor also pledged to keep primary and secondary education free and compulsory.
He urged beneficiaries of the N50m Ibom Ignite business grant to put the money into their businesses. He warned them against spending it on personal pleasure or unproductive ventures.
Eno described the grant as seed capital. “A seed not properly planted and tended was as good as dead,” he said.
On support for vulnerable residents, he said his administration had built more than 500 Compassionate Homes across the state’s 31 local government areas. Each beneficiary also received a N500,000 business grant.
If re-elected, he promised to build 1,000 more homes, with business grants, across the state’s wards.
