The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) awarded two Ebonyi State University Abakaliki students with N200,000 scholarships apiece on Thursday.
The two beneficiaries, Ms. Onwe C. Emmanuella, and Chukwuemeka P. Ogar, are final-year students of medicine and surgery at the EBSU.
Presenting the checks to the students in Abakaliki, Dr. Okechukwu Igwenyi, the ASUU Chairman, Ebonyi State University chapter, stated the beneficiaries were selected based on some stringent but transparently determinable parameters.
He observed it was wrong to label the union as a body known for only strikes and industrial actions, adding, “We are here to inform the public that apart from fighting for improved funding and protecting the autonomy of universities, we also care for students by providing annual scholarship awards to successful indigent students from all the public universities in Nigeria.”
He said, “There is no denying the fact that the ruling class is surreptitiously making education very expensive and unaffordable for common Nigerians. School fees, meals, consumables, and other sundry expenses have become so expensive and beyond the reach of a common man that students who refuse to drop out have been pushed into unthinkable ventures to stay on campus and acquire the necessary university education.
“The terrible, excruciating economic conditions students and parents are subjected to have occasioned a high rate of dropouts among diligent and intelligent students due to poverty and frustration.”
Igwenyi voiced concern about the poor conditions of students’ welfare and security, as well as the depressed and uncertain national economy, which has forced some students to seek alternative distracting forms of revenue in order to pay their school tuition and other basic necessities.
“Currently, most students do not know what bursary awarding by states and local governments, as it were, is all about and possibly do not understand that an ordinary student can win a scholarship or grant on merit.”
He added, “Our scholarship award scheme has been running for years, and we provide research support presently to the tune of N500,000 as a Ph.D. Research Grant to selected members of ASUU in all public universities in Nigeria. Three of our members have benefited from that scheme.
“Beyond our members, we also have our students in our plan. It is, therefore, imperative to mention now that over the years and as part of our corporate social responsibility, the ASUU National Executive Council has been dispensing monies from our check-off deductions and offering the same as scholarship grants to selected indigent students across the country based on some stringent but transparently determinable parameters.”
He stated that, as a result, ASUU-EBSU has nominated some of its university’s students in recent years, and in most cases, these nominees have proven successful.
One of the recipients, Ms. Onwe Emmanuella, expressed her joy when she learned she had been chosen for the scholarship award, adding that the N200,000 will be used to pay off her overdue school fees.
She said, “I feel elevated because I have waited for a long time for the outcome of the screening. And I’m surprised that, in the end, it yielded results, and I am happy about it.
“With this scholarship, I am sure I will be able to offset my outstanding school fees that have been waiting for me for a long time now to pay, and also take care of other courses I am yet to register for.”
According to the second recipient, Ogar Peter, “I am just too emotional to express what I feel about the scholarship. I am grateful to the ASUU EBSU chapter. I am also sure that this grant will go a long way towards solving some of my basic needs in school.”
