LAGOS STATE DISBURSES N95 MILLION AS BURSARY ALLOCATION

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)