Nigeria (Blank NEWS Online) –By Albert OGRAKA
Chairman of the Friday Osanebi Foundation (FOF), Rt. Hon. Friday Osanebi has given out over N10 million to students in the first tranche of his foundation’s 2016 Scholarship award for undergraduate and post primary education students.
Osanebi, while handing the cheques over to the beneficiaries on Saturday, 05, 2016 in Asaba, said the gesture was in line with the foundational philosophy of the organization, which was poised at raising Giants and empowering societies.
Each of the beneficiaries received a cheque of one hundred thousand Naira each, while the best two students went home with one hundred and fifty thousand naira each, (N150,000). The secondary school students were represented in the award ceremony by the principal and also collected their cheques on their behalf.
The epoch making event was attended by dignitaries as well as parents and guidance who witnessed the issuance of cheques and award letters to Sixty (60) one hundred level students from various institutions of higher learning in Nigeria.
Amongst those that also received cheques were (40) post primary school students , coupled with packages of text books and other educational materials.
Osanebi however urged parents owe it as a duty to ensure that their children and wards were properly brought up in order to achieve a better family unit and better organized society, in order to achieve the aims and objectives of the foundation – raising giants and empowering a healthy society.
“Please join us to build a better society by properly bringing up our children at the family level; a child who is properly brought up is an asset to the society. No matter the position you have attained, personal attention to our children is very important and what we call insecurity starts from the home, parents, please we owe it as a duty to the society to take care of our children.”
He explained that the “the principle behind the scholarship scheme is to build a healthy society by empowering young people to favorably compete with their equals anywhere in the world.This informed our foundation’s decision to give out scholarships to these ones”.
“You have to be hard working, you have to be disciplined to be able to make a good result at your return next year, with nothing less than 3.5 CGPA and to enhance your sustenance in this platform; you know there is no cult member who makes this kind of result, because they do not have time to study, you must therefore desist from all appearances of evil or cultism .”
He appealed to the beneficiaries to be good ambassadors of the State and urged parents to always allow their children to choose what to study stressing: “In these days and age, parents should allow young people to make their choice, we want to advise that parents should not force children to read a particular course. Times have changed, allow the children to make their choices because at the end of the day, they do very well when they follow their passion.”
Rt. Hon. Friday Osanebi decried attitude of some Nigerian leaders who do not differentiate between politics and sincere philanthropic gestures, as he revealed that the award ceremony was not a political jamboree, but his simple way of practicing the act of giving and touching lives, in accordance with his faith in the word of God.
While noting that the successful students have passed through a thorough scrutiny and encouraged them not to rest on their oars, Osanebi assured that the best graduating students with the highest CGPA will at the end of the scheme be given instant employment in various multi national oil companies.
Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Miss Enuma Dorothy, Medicine, UNIBEN; lauded the Chairman of the foundation for sponsoring the program, observing that it has challenged Deltans in the universities to strive for excellence and promised that they will continue to put in their best to enhance their continual benefit of the scholarship scheme till graduation.
The Delta state Commissioner, Bureau of Special Duties, -Hon. Chika Ossai; Commissioner representing Ndokwa Nation at the Board of DESOPADEC, Comrade Nnamdi Ezechi as well as he Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Delta state on Project Monitoring in their separate speeches lauded -Hon. Osanebi for the scholarship award on deserving Deltan students.
They also advised the beneficiaries to make good use of the rare opportunity by taking their studies more serious.
Highpoint of the event was a powerful prayer session coordinated by Rt. Hon. Osanebi and the formal unveiling of a Website belonging to the FOF Chairman, Rt. -Hon Friday Ossai Osanebi
Beneficiaries of the education scholarship scheme are students of 100 level from the Nine local government areas in Delta North, namely: Aniocha North, Aniocha South, Ika North East, Ika South, Ndokwa East, Ndokwa West, Oshimili North and Oshimili South with less privileged background who had undergone a transparent selection and screening examination.
The scholarship is sessional from year of entry till graduation, depending on the successive performances of the benefitting undergraduates in the nation’s universities, polytechnics and monotechnics by sustaining a CGPA of 3.5 or 2nd Class Upper and above.
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E.I.C: Albert Eruorhe Ograka
