According to a news report from PUNCH, Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, made a visit to Eucharistic Heart of Jesus College in Ilorin on Monday to celebrate the outstanding performance of students in the 2024 United Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Thirty-five students from the Catholic school achieved remarkable scores ranging between 300 and 355 out of a total mark of 400 in the UTME.

During his visit, Governor AbdulRazaq praised the students' achievements and acknowledged the overall excellence demonstrated by Kwara students in both public and private schools who excelled in the national examination.

In a statement issued by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye, AbdulRazaq expressed, “I am here today on behalf of the people and government of Kwara State to say we are proud of you and all others like you across our state."

“We are proud of the achievements of this school because you alone have 35 students who scored over 300 in the UTME. So, my visit here is to congratulate you and encourage you to do more,”

He charged the students in the lower classes to work harder and surpass this year’s results in the coming years.

“To those of you in junior classes, here and across our state, I want to urge you to do better next year. We know it is a result of hard work and discipline, I congratulate the principal and the staff on the job well done,” the governor said.

He encouraged the principal and staff of Eucharistic Heart of Jesus College to do peer review among other schools and impart what they were doing well to others.

AbdulRazaq said the feat, along with other successes of the state, summed up the emergence of Kwara on the national stage as a go-to state for quality education.

The Principal of the college, Rev. Sister Margaret Ihinolurinjan, expressed surprise over the visit and thanked AbdulRazaq for the encouragement.

“We are trying to do our best for these children and to inculcate discipline in them, making sure we do it the right way, and God is doing the rest.

“We don’t joke with our discipline with the learning and the teaching we give them. We don’t joke with our curriculum.

“We have always been grateful to God. We have always had records, but this one is the biggest of all, and it is all over the news. Even at the state level, we have always won the Tax Quiz Competitions organised by the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service.

“I am so humbled. I appreciate your presence. You are welcome, sir.”