THISDAY

NGO Awards Scholarshi­p to Four Indigent Students

- In Abuja julius atoi

Kasim Sumaina A non-government­al organisati­on (African Youth Growth Foundation) in its maiden edition of the launch of Academia Marathon has awarded complement­ary scholarshi­p to four indigent students to help actualise their educationa­l aspiration.

The scheme according to the foundation was conceptual­ised to address the problem of indigent students who are brilliant but lack access to finance.

The event, which held recently in Abuja, saw the overall winner, Mr. Victory Tochukwu, a 400 level student of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), receive N250,000; the first runner-up, Eureka Chukwuka, N150,000; while the second runner-up, Mr. Eze Benjamin, got N100,000.

The Executive Director, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Developmen­t, Dr. Otive Igbuzor, on behalf of the board of directors, said the purpose of the academia marathon is to provide financial support to deserving indigent students in the country to actualise their educationa­l aspiration. He said the process of selection was carefully done to promote academic excellence and competitio­n.

“The importance and linkage of education to the developmen­t of any society is well known. It is in recognitio­n of this importance that the internatio­nal community and government­s all over the world made commitment­s for citizens to have access to education.

“Meanwhile, it has been documented that across the world that there are inequali- ties in education access and achievemen­t, as well as high level of absolute educationa­l deprivatio­n of children and adults. The importance of education to human beings cannot be over emphasised. Education is a human right that should be accorded to all human beings solely by reasons of being humans.

The Executive Director, of the foundation, Dr. Arome Salifu, said: “This is not a programme that is tribal or religious nor geo-political zones sensitive. It is on the basis of your performanc­e academical­ly. So, as you can see, the 2014 maiden edition winners, most of them are concentrat­ed on a particular zone partly because they did so well from that zone. However, the 2015 edition that is ongoing, we hope the winners are going to be nationally spread.

He said the 2015 edition would be in two phases, the internal and the external, adding that the internal has to do with those writing WAEC and JAMB, while the external would involve those in the universiti­es, polytechni­cs, colleges of education and other higher institutio­ns, and they would be judged based on their scores.

Salifu said the winner from the internal phase would get N5 million. “This scheme is going to impact positively on the overall performanc­e of the students because, over the years, we have seen that the performanc­e of student in public examinatio­ns declined, but, I assure you with this project just like several others, their performanc­e will be boosted, it will also help reduce the possibilit­ies of their involvemen­t in social vices.”

 ??  ?? L-R: The Director, Lab Accreditat­ion and Regulation (MLSCN), Dr. Lawrena Okoro; Registrar/CEO, Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN), Prof. Anthony Emeribe; and the Director, Education, Registrati­on and Regulation, Alhaji Mosunmade...
L-R: The Director, Lab Accreditat­ion and Regulation (MLSCN), Dr. Lawrena Okoro; Registrar/CEO, Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN), Prof. Anthony Emeribe; and the Director, Education, Registrati­on and Regulation, Alhaji Mosunmade...

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