The endowment fund requires all taxable residents of the state to voluntarily contribute a sum of N1, 000 annually to support the government in funding the education sector of the state.
Speaking with journalists about the development on Tuesday in Akure, the state capital, the state Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr Femi Agagu, said the state government had set up a board comprising prominent indigenes of the state to judiciously administer and regulate the fund for the development of education at all levels in the state.
According to the commissioner, the number of schools the state government is funding was enormous, hence the need for collective responsibility from all residents to assist the government. He noted that the government was targeting over N1bn annually from the endowment fund if one million people of the state pay their N1,000 levy.
He said, “The fundamental conception is that the fund will have perpetual existence and that all and sundry within Ondo State and beyond will be encouraged and indeed urged to contribute to it according to their abilities and at all times as they feel able to do so. “Contributions could be once and for all lump sums or periodic remittances of the standing-order type. International and national organisations, as well as individuals within and outside Nigeria, are welcome and strongly encouraged to contribute to the fund.
And the money will be divered rather than been pumped into the development of education.