By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie
Fifteen indigent students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife; University of Lagos (UNILAG), and Lagos State University (LASU) were presented with N75,000 each by the Ademola Segun Educational Foundation (ASEF) to support their education at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja, last Friday.
The foundation was set up 15 years ago by the late Prof. Ademola Segun of OAU to assist indigent final year students in Biological Sciences to conclude their education with ease.
In an interview with The Nation, Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the foundation, Mr Sigismund Joseph said the beneficiaries were selected from schools that responded to ASEF’s request for students.
“Today we are having the 15th ASEF scholarship awards to give scholarship to indigenous students but brilliant ones but who are handicapped – those who have difficulties meeting their financial obligations in the university, specifically in the last year.
“We selected 15 students for today. It is significant because it is the 15th year since the foundation was set up. Every year we write students from all universities in Nigeria but strangely only a few respond to our request,” he said.
Speaking on the impact the fund would make, Christina Oye, from Department of Zoology OAU, said she wished the fund came earlier.
“How I wish I have gotten this information early, especially when I was in Part One or Part Two. It was not easy. My dad is late; my mom is retired’’.
Another student, Josephine Oluomo, said the funds would help her complete her final project.
“In fact, I am actually happy with this money. It will help me to actually complete my project. Now I cannot collect money from my parents at home for project again. There was a time I called my mum and told her we still needed money for project, she asked about the previous fee paid,” she said.
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Oluomo also said the money would be useful for her to get a sewing machine as she is learning to sew at present.
Son of the late Prof Segun, Dapo, said his father, an emeritus professor of Zoology started the foundation on his 70th birthday, given the difficulties he experienced funding his own education.
He called on Nigerians to support the foundation to expand its reach.
“The foundation is only kept alive – even though it has my dad’s name- by the donations of people. My dad is not here today but we just want to try and we are trying to ensure that it goes on.
Guest speaker at the event, Prof Adebayo Sanni counseled university authorities to establish entrepreneurship centres to imbue students with skills they need to succeed in life.
He said universities were teaching the wrong things.
Speaking on the topic, Bridging the 21st Century Gap, Sanni said: “For teaching to be relevant and meaningful, teachers, lecturers and professors must change and adapt.
“Our curriculum, our teaching practice, our learning spaces and our approaches to education must change.”
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