Lagos Government gives N95m bursary awards to 1,245 Law School, University students

The Lagos State Government on Wednesday
disbursed about N95 million as bursary
awards to 1, 245 indigent students of Lagos
State University (LASU), the Nigerian Law
School and the Maritime Academy of
Nigeria.
The State Deputy Governor, Mrs Adejoke
Orelope-Adefulire, made the presentation
of
bursary ATM Verve cards to the recipients
at Government Secondary School, Iyana-
Ipaja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports
that Orelope-Adefulire was represented on
the occasion by Dr Wale Ahmed, the
Commissioner for Special Duties.
Of the 1,245 recipients, 1,084 were
students of LASU, while 21 were in the
Maritime
Academy and 140 in the Law School.
NAN also reports that the bursary awards
for each of the LASU students (2011/2012
set) was between N50,000 and N80,000.
She said that Gov. Babatunde Fashola also
approved N200,000 bursary for each of the
Law School and Maritime Academy
students.
“As a government, we have recognised
education as an effective panacea to rid
our society of ignorance, backwardness and
under-development.
“We see education as the basis upon which
our policies can be accomplished.; it is
critical to the attainment of the central
policy thrust of our administration, which is
wealth creation and sustainable economic
growth.
“Our government is committed to the
improvement in the quality of education
and reduction of students’ financial burden
to the barest minimum,’’ she said.
According to the deputy governor, the state
has also introduced N200,000 as merit
awards scholarship to indigenes in tertiary
institutions with Cumulative Grade Point
Aggregate of 2.1 and above.
She added:”We will give local
scholarship award of N200,000 to
undergraduates, N300,000 for Master’s
degree and N400,000 for Doctorate, who
are indigenes in all the tertiary institutions
across the country.
“Today’s event is to show our youths that
we love them and that we want them to
succeed because they own our future.”
Orelope-Adefulire said that the state would
continue to invest heavily in education at
all levels in order to develop and sustain
the capacity to cope with its onerous mega-
city challenges.
“In our highly competitive contemporary
world, no society can afford to treat
education with levity.
“We have sustained regular and timely
payment of bursary and scholarship awards
to
indigenes of the state.
“Without qualitative and affordable
education for our youths, we can neither
achieve the
Millennium Development Goals nor our
target of ranking among the top 20
economies in the world by 2020.”
Otuba Fatai Olukoga, the Special Adviser to
the Governor on Education, announced that
the result of the 2013 local scholarship
examination was out and that 390
candidates, made up of undergraduate and
post graduate students, would be given
awards.
Olukoga urged candidates who sat for the
examination to check their names at the
State Scholarship Board.
Some of the beneficiaries, who spoke to
NAN, thanked the state government for the
gesture and urged them to review the
amount upward.
Miss Rafiat Akinpelu, a 200 level Insurance
student at LASU, said the bursary would
assist them to take care of some of their
expenses.
“I am grateful for the bursary, it came at a
time when I was not expecting it, I will use
the
N60,000 bursary to pay for my hostel
accommodation,’’ she said.
Mr Afolabi Euba, a Law School student,
described the bursary was a generous
assistance by the government to help
indigent students. (NAN)