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Tag: scholarship

  • Seven Akwa Ibom medical students get scholarship

    Seven Akwa Ibom medical students get scholarship

    Seven Akwa Ibom State indigenes studying Medicine and Surgery in various universities have been awarded year 2013 Isabella Medical Scholars Fund (IMSF) scholarship.

    The students, who are from Ukanafun, Ikot Ekpene and Essien Udim Local Government Areas, smiled home with N250, 000 each in recognition of their outstanding performance.

    The yearly IMSF scholarship award is used to honour of late Dr. Isabella Samuel Inyang, the co-founder of the foundation and the wife of a retired Director with Oil giant Shell Nigeria.

    Speaking during the presentation of cheque to the deserving students, the Chairman, the Samuel and Isabella Foundation, Samuel Inyang said the awardees were the best and brightest undergraduates similar to what Isabella was in her time.

    Inyang said: “For us in the foundation, this occasion is another milestone to actualise one of our programmes and thereby continue to immortalise a great Lady and Co-founder of the Foundation, Dr. Isabella Samuel Inyang.

    “She believed in the very moving words of the anthem “Passing the Torch” of Queen’s College, Lagos, her alma mater. She had always wanted to pass on “the thoughts, the skills, the learning…brightly burning… such that not even death can make it dim.

    “We see these awardees as pillars of their generation and the assurance of our Nation for a brighter future. We salute their academic prowess. We urge you to persevere to end of your studies so that you may be able to offer the highest standard of service in medical field anywhere in the world.”

    In her remarks, the State Commissioner for Education Prof. (Mrs.) Atim Antai urged the beneficiaries of the award to make maximum use of the opportunity and work hard to justify the award.

    Prof. (Mrs.) Antai explained that apart from the initiatives from private individuals, state government is also giving medical students in various universities grants of N200, 000 each per session.

    Her words: “The Ministry of Education is proud of the awardees who were products of our public secondary schools and beneficiaries of the free and compulsory education programme. It is my wish that other students will emulate the high academic performance of these awardees.”

     

     

  • Best pupil gets scholarship

    Master Bamigboye Emmanuel, overall best graduating pupil of Livingstone College, Ikorodu, for the 2012/2013 academic session, has been offered a scholarship to study in any university of his choice in the United Kingdom or the United States.

    The scholarship was given to Emmanuel by a travel agency-Femmirate Travels at the college’s 2013 valedictory and prize giving day held for its Senior Secondary 3 pupils at the Ikorodu Town Hall, Lagos.

    The agency’s ticketing executive, Mrs Aderayo Adenola, said the scholarship would cover accommodation, feeding and other academic expenses apart from school fees.

    The 16-year old beneficiary expressed his delight and advised his juniors to always respect constituted authority.

    “I feel very happy to be the overall best student. Although I did not know before, I just came here and discovered that I am the best overall student. My advice to my junior ones in the school is that they should always obey the school’s rules and regulations. They should not think they know more than their teachers.

    Speaking at the event, the Deputy Director, Lagos State Ministry of Establishment, Training and Pension, Mrs Funlola Ariremako, described youthful age as a period of “battle” for the youths.

    She, therefore, urged the graduating pupils to take this phase of life very serious and prepare for their future.

    Her words: “Your youthful age is very important. You must not toy with this age. It is the age of permanence and battle, therefore you must lay a good foundation for yourselves because whatever you do now will determine your future. Do not make a wrong choice now that you are still young and when you gain admission into the university, pursue God first.”

    In addition, the founder and chairman of the school’s Governing Council, Dr Kola Olusola-Christwealth, in his message tagged: ‘Determination Wins’ also advised the graduands to be determined, courageous and bold to achieve their set goals.

    “Do not expect that everything will go as planned, because the paths of life are not straight. To get to your destination, you must be determined, courageous and strong. Things may not work the way you want it, but if you are determined, you will be successful at the end of the day.”

     

  • We need more scholarships from our lawmakers, say Bayelsa students

    Forty-six students, who benefitted from a scholarship scheme sponsored by Senator Clever Ikisikpo Educational Foundation, turned Oliver Twist in Ogbia Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, when they asked for more sponsorship.

    Some of the students asked their lawmakers to imitate the senator’s gesture by floating more scholarship schemes.

    Ikisikpo represents Bayelsa East Senatorial District. Since 1999, the year he was elected into the state House of Assembly, his foundation has offered scholarships yearly to selected students in tertiary institutions.

    Before he was elevated to the Senate, Ikisikpo’s foundation had restricted the gesture to only students from Ogbia, the Local Government Area of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    But the foundation later expanded it to include students from Brass and Nembe in the spirits of his new position. Every year, students sit for the scholarship examination and persons who qualify are offered financial incentives.

    This year, 250 undergraduates sat for the examination but only 46 persons passed. The successful students hailed the senator when they gathered at the Ogbia Brotherhood Hall on Saturday to receive their awards.

    They described the senator’s decision to support their education as the best gift “from a lawmaker to youths from the Niger Delta”.

    They asked other lawmakers to engage in capacity building programmes for youths in the region. They urged the senator not to relent in his service to God and humanity.

    “We appreciate what the senator is doing for students every year. It has gone a long way to lift the financial burdens on our parents.

    “With this scholarship, I feel motivated to study harder and make this region proud. But we want other politicians to imitate the senator,” one of the beneficiaries, Joseph Barakumo, said.

    The Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Allison Oguru, who was at the occasion, appealed to politicians to emulate the gesture of Ikisikpo.

    He described the scheme as “the best gift one can offer a whole generation”.

    The Chief Examiner of the foundation, Prof. Alfred Ockiya, appealed to other politicians to invest in the education of people from their constituencies.

    Ikisikpo, who presented cheques to the students, said the scholarship would be extended to postgraduate students from next year.

    He said the foundation was also working to establish entrepreneurial scheme for fresh graduates in the senatorial district.

    Ikisikpo also presented cheques to old beneficiaries of the foundation.

     

  • Scholarship for 50 Boko Haram orphans

    Scholarship for 50 Boko Haram orphans

    Some unusual visitors were at the Government House, Maiduguri, the troubled Borno State capital, on Tuesday night.

    Fifty in all, the visitors —Orphans all — were guests of Governor Kashim Shettima, who broke his fast with them.

    They were orphans of Boko Haram victims.

    Besides the fine meal, they bagged all-round sholarship to pursue their education.

    According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the governor on Media and Communications, Alhaji Isa Gusau, the governor said the scholarship would cut across orphans from both Muslim and Christian homes.

    He promised to also host orphans from Christian homes during Christmas.

    The statement said: “The governor told his guests that they should regard him as their father and that he will do everything within his powers to ensure that they are comfortable and they do not encounter problems in their education.

    “The governor called on the orphans to take education very seriously and be of good behaviours so that they would excel in life.

    “Shettima presented each of them with two types of assorted textile materials, 50 kilogrammes bags of rice and sugar with some cash for sewing of their textiles ahead of the Sallah coming up in few weeks.

    “He called on government officials, wealthy residents and charity organisations to render help to the orphans.

    “The governor who interacted with each of the orphans, asking them of their stories, was moved to tears when a young girl recounted how her father and mother were butchered before her eyes while they were praying in their residence in Budum, Maiduguri.

    “The venue of the Iftar became emotional when one of the invitees told the governor that he had before Tuesday night, given up on life. He thanked Governor Shettima for brining his hope alive.

    “He said his dream is to become an educationist that would touch the lives of others. He offered prayers for God to protect and bless the governor for being kind to them.

    “The caretaker chairman of the Maiduguri Metropolitan Council, Alh. Abdulkadir Rahis, who was part of the Iftar, said his council would come to the aide of the orphans and support them pointing out that it is the first time a governor was breaking fast with that category of people in Borno State.

    “A guardian to two of the orphans, Umar Goni Aji, who gave the vote of thanks, thanked Shettima for coming to their aid and for the concern shown to them despite being low rated members of the society. He prayed for Allah to restore peace in the state.”

  • College promises cash, scholarships on cultural awareness

    To show its determination to promote cultural awareness and national unity, the management of National College Gbagada Lagos, has promised to give cash prizes and scholarships to students who can speak fluently at least three Nigerian languages. The beneficiaries of the proposed cash prizes must be in the junior classes in the school and must be consistently demonstrating respect for indigenous languages and culture. The students to be selected for cash prizes must also be patriotic and detribalised, well behaved and academically sound.

    The proprietor of the school Alfred Aina an Engineer, made this known in an address he presented at the maiden cultural day organised by the school.

    Speaking, Aina said culture can be used to promote national unity and development if properly harnessed. Aina condemned inadequate use of our indigenous languages, believing Nigeria can adopt one of them as her lingua franca.

    Aina also advocated what he described as “cultural bonding” which he defines as forging unity by propagating our culture and tradition in such a way that mutual trust and understanding is encouraged. To achieve this, he suggested that there should be home stay exchanges between children from different cultural backgrounds. This, he believes, will lead to unity of purpose.

    The maiden Cultural Day featured music and drama presentations renedered in varying ethnic nationalities. There was also a quiz competition on Nigerian culture and tradition.

    END

     

  • Firm to assist students get foreign scholarships

    Usually, students are the ones that seek out firms that can help them travel abroad for further studies. However, the reverse is the case with Avail International Consul Limited (AICL), which is seeking to help students get into secondary and tertiary institutions in the United Kingdom (UK), United States and Canada irrespective of the funds they have.

    Mrs Bola Agunbiade, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), AICL, said in an interview with The Nation at the firm’s Ogba, Lagos office, that they can help brilliant students with good grades in their Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) attract scholarships from reputable institutions outside Nigeria.

    “There are several scholarship opportunities abroad that people are not even aware of. We want to be able to reach out to students, especially those who are intelligent who have come out in flying colours in their O/levels. They may not have the financial capability to travel abroad; however, there are opportunities for such students to get scholarship. It may be full scholarship, it might be tuition reduction,” she said.

    After evaluating their credentials, Mrs Agunbiade said the firm would help scholarship potentials to present their applications to the universities. She added that for the next two months especially, AICL would offer its services free to all categories of students in commemoration of its second anniversary. She said they would benefit from visa counselling, evaluation and tutorials.

    “We are inviting students and their parents to come in from June 26 all through July and the whole of August. We are looking at them going in for September. We are encouraging them to come here and it is going to be free. We are inviting them to celebrate our second anniversary.

    “We will evaluate their documentation, check credentials, see the ones that are really intelligent, assist to writing good personal statement because this is one of the requirements for scholarships and send the applications off to these institutions and see as many scholarship opportunities we can give out to these students for free. Those who can afford the fees and even those who already have admissions can come in we offer free counseling to them help them with their visa application, give them mock interview based on the likely questions they might be asked at the interview centres and embassies to ease the application process.“

    However, despite the firm’s enthusiasm to help potential students get admissions abroad, Mrs Agunbiade said it only assists those with genuine intention to study. She said if they go abroad for other reasons and misbehave, they spoil the country’s reputation.

    She added: “It is easy for me to tell if the student is genuine. Their parents may have money and just want them to travel. But by the time I talk to them, forgetting even their credentials, I can tell. They might not have the genuine intention to go abroad and really study and its not good for us because institutions come back and blame us that why did we send a student that is not serious.

    “I have about 40 schools in the UK and we have contracts. They make out rules and they insist we must send genuine students. If I have any doubt I tell them no I won’t process it.“

  • Rivers to reward winners with scholarship

    The Rivers State government has promised to award scholarship to pupils who won the quiz and arts exhibition during the World Environmental Day celebration organised by the Rivers State Environmental Sanitation Authority.

    Pupils of Government Secondary School, Elekahia Port Harcourt won the quiz competition while Success Sorkari of Community Secondary School, Alode, Eleme won the arts exhibition.

    The Commissioner for Education, Dame Alice Lawrence-Nemi, announced this when the winners visited her office in Port Harcourt. She said the victory is a harvest of the government’s investment in education.

    She attributed the victory to the competence of the state’s teachers, praising them for preparing the pupils adequately for the competition.

    Alice Lawrence-Nemi noted that the yearly teachers’ re-training exercise has improved the performance of teachers in the state, stressing that the 13,000 teachers to be employed will undergo serious training before they commence teaching.

    The winner of the arts exhibition, Sorkari, said he made his aquarium from the waste in hs kitchen. He said he got his inspiration from the theme of the celebration: Think.Eat.Safe.

    Sorkari noted that the theme inspired him to be conservative with the resources available to him. He also advised students to curb excessive waste of food.

  • IG offers student scholarship

    Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Abubakar has granted scholarship to Cynthia Ovia, a graduate of International Relations/Political Science from Tansian University, Umunya, Anambra, to study Psychology/Criminal Law in Britain.

    Chancellor of the university, Prof John Bosco Akam, who revealed this while presenting the new Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof Edward Orji, to the university community announced that the gesture was because Cynthia won a state award during her youth service in Anambra State.

    He informed that aside Cynthia, who is a Deputy Superintendent of Police, three other graduates of the school who won state awards during the NYSC, were Daniel Amadife (International Relations), Joseph Markus Adam (Political Science) and Umenwanne Patricia Chinwendu (Microbiology).

    Presenting the new Vice-Chancellor, Akam said that Orji, a professor of Environmental Biology, Biotechnology and Agro forestry since 2004 takes over from Prof Nduka Uriah whose five-year tenure has ended.

    On his part, Orji thanked God that he emerged after a competitive interview session with 10 other outstanding professors.

    He said during his tenure, skill acquisition and academics would go hand-in-hand for graduates to be entrepreneurs and learn kills and be job creators and not job seekers.

    He added that his administration plans to start a postgraduate school as well as establish more schools, dealing with natural sciences, environmental sciences.

    He promised to hire more qualified professors and lecturers both on part-wtime and adjunctant.

    Prof Orji warned against factionalisation among and students.

     

  • UI spends N48m on scholarship

    The University of Ibadan (UI) has spent N48 million on scholarships for first class students.

    The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Adewole, spoke yesterday at the university’s Trenchard Hall while delivering his mid-term report.

    He said the scholarships will ensure that the best brains are given the opportunity to harness their potentials, as well as “engender a systemic regeneration of best scholars”.

    The VC said UI benefited from the Federal Government’s N1.3 billion Capital Allocation, adding that the institution’s share was used to complete the Ajibode Bridge and power projects.

    He said the university’s Senate approved N67 million as research grants to facilitate staff participation in local and international conferences and develop human capital.

    Prof. Adewole said: “We have invested in the improvement of teaching and learning through the establishment of the Directorate of Quality Assurance, renovation of lecture theatres and construction of new ones and 24-hour library service.

    “We have engaged tutorial assistants costing N25 million per session, fine-tuned the admission process, purchased smart boards for all departments, established the UI Research Foundation and Centre for Human Resource Development.”

    He said the university was finalising the implementation of the “Students’ Assessment of Lecturers’ Report” to improve service delivery.

    On security, Prof. Adewole said the institution has awarded the contract for the purchase of CCTV, bought security equipment and trained its staff on anti-terrorism.

    He said the university now has gender and sexual harassment policies.

    The VC said his administration has completed roads and bridges in Ajibode extension; bought five units of 40KV mobile electricity generators; purchased and installed two 2,000KV Cummins power generators; installed prepaid metres, solar street lights; improved water supply; bought fault locators; built roads, car parks, public toilets, lecture theatres, a maternity hospital, a sawmill and improved the Zoological Garden, among others.

     

  • Oyo students get N100m scholarship, 28 years after

    Twenty-eight years after scholarships were last awarded in Oyo State, Governor Abiola Ajimobi yesterday presented a N100 million cheque to indigenes in tertiary institutions.

    The ceremony was held at the House of Chiefs.

    The students and their parents were overwhelmed as the governor presented a symbolic cheque to representatives of the beneficiaries.

    Beneficiaries of the bursary/scholarship awards include final year students of universities and polytechnics, post-graduate students in tertiary institutions in Nigeria and abroad and those in aviation colleges.

    Ajimobi described the occasion as memorable.

    He said it was a demonstration of his administration’s commitment to boosting education and giving the people the dividends of democracy.

    The governor said: “No nation can hope to make meaningful progress without sound and qualitative education. According to the late Dr. Martin Luther King, ‘if you want to keep a man in perpetual slavery, do not give him education’.

    “The pivotal role of education in the development of any nation cannot be over-emphasised. It is on this premise that the state government has made the education of our children a priority. We have touched every local government with meaningful and pupil-oriented projects.

    “Aside the renovation of about 1,600 primary and secondary school buildings, this administration procured 20,000 pieces of furniture for the schools.

    “Efforts are being made to make schools students-friendly and the welfare of workers is our priority. Apart from providing free education in primary and secondary schools, this administration deemed it fit to sustain the State Scholarship Board through adequate funding.

    “Our raison deter was to reposition the board and make it effective to cushion the harsh effects of the rising cost of education in tertiary institutions, a burden that is always carried by parents.”

    Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mr. Muili Olanrewaju Taofeek, a post-graduate student of Petroleum Geo-Science at the Manchester University in the United Kingdom (UK), thanked the governor for giving them an opportunity to attain their potentials.