In Nigeria, there abound various scholarship schemes with the objective of providing funds and assistance to qualified students to achieve their academic desires. The federal government of Nigeria scholarship board in partnership with the BEA is one of such. They award various categories of scholarship to university students. Other scholarship schemes in Nigeria include those of multinational companies such as NNPC/CHEVRON scholarship, MTN scholarship, etc, as well as states, and private individual scholarship scheme, just to mention but a few.
The main thrust of this write-up is the federal government scholarships, and the NNPC/CHEVRON scheme. To all intent and purpose, scholarship schemes are designed to achieve a main purpose which is to promote education and encourage brilliant students in achieving their academic desires by providing requisite fundings and wherewithal.
The 2018 federal government scholarships examination were written sometime in April 2018, and up till now in December nothing has been heard of the results, nor has any successful candidate been paid. How long does it take an examination body like JAMB or WAEC to release its results, that a body like the federal government scholarship board is taking this long. It is appalling and disheartening that in this modern time, the results of a national examination of such standard would take so long to be released. The federal government and the federal ministry of education under whose supervision the exam falls should take immediate and necessary action to ensure that these results are released without much ado, and ensure that subsequent examination results are released on time and beneficiaries paid on time. This is one of the roles of government and it must be done promptly.
The NNPC/CHEVRON scholarship examination 2018 fared no better. The examination was first written on Saturday, 1st September 2018 and the whole process was a catastrophe due to poor organisation. It was later rescheduled and rewritten on Saturday 17th November 2018. Despite its bogus assurances that cost of transportation will be reimbursed for both exams (the failed exam and the successful one), the body fulfilled its promise very disappointingly with a meagre reimbursement of a paltry N3,800 as transportation for exams that held on two different occasions where candidates spent as much as N10,000 to N15,000, bearing in mind that candidates travelled down from various parts of the country twice. However, it is hoped that the results of this exams would be released as soon as possible.
To this end, scholarship bodies such as multinational companies should bear in mind that one of its corporate social responsibilities is alleviating the plight of indigent students. The scholarship scheme in Nigeria needs a total overhaul and restructuring. Scholarship should be effective, efficient, and results for scholarship examinations should be released as soon as possible and successful candidates paid promptly without much ado. Only by so doing will the aims and objectives of scholarship schemes be achieved. Scholarship schemes in Nigeria have helped a lot of students to achieve their academic desires. The importance of scholarships cannot be overemphasised.
- By Dada Peter,
Benin City, Edo State.
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