Ondo disburses N400m bursary, scholarship awards

The Ondo State Government says it is disbursing N400 million to 32,698 indigenous students of the state in the country’s tertiary institutions as bursaries and scholarships for the 2012/2013 academic session.
The Chairman, Ondo State Scholarship Board, Dayo Awude, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Akure that N323 million was for bursaries, while N77 million was for scholarships.
Awude said: “For this academic year alone, we are disbursing not less than N400 million as scholarship and bursary awards.
“I must tell you that we are even paying now and 32,698 students are to receive this as scholarship and bursary awards.”
Awude told NAN that for a student to qualify for scholarship, he or she must have a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.0 and above the previous year.
The student must also write and pass a qualifying test, he said.
“Each successful applicant under this category receives N100,000 and this is called regular scheme,” the chairman said.
He said that the physically challenged students were also included in the awards and added that though such people were known once seen, they too must apply.
Awude said that each successful physically challenged beneficiary will receive N50,000, pointing out that 112 of them got the awards for the 2012/2013 academic session.
The chairman said that all medical students at the clinical level of their study as well as law students were paid N50,000 each every session until they finish their studies.
“In this present disbursement, 713 and 198 medical and law students respectively are benefiting,” he said.
According to him, any person who excelled in any other field is given an award under “special and automatic” scheme, with a cash benefit of N100,000 each.
“Any Ondo State indigene who is able to excel in any specific field like sports, education, cultural display or achieve any other feat is entitled to N100,000 every year,” he said.
The chairman told NAN that four persons were being considered for this category of award.
Awude said that 31,414 students benefited from the bursary awards, pointing out that 257 of them were under “regular bursary”.
He added: “For bursary, the major qualification for one to apply is that one must be in a university, polytechnic, college of education, monothecnic or school of health and hail from Ondo State.”
Awude said that each of such applicant was entitled to N10,000.
Speaking to NAN on the awards, Awodola Afolayan, the President, National Association of Ondo State Students’ Union, applauded the state government for the gesture.
Afolayan, however, appealed to the state government to ensure that every qualified indigene of the state was captured in the scheme.
NAN reports that members of NAOSS protested in December 2013 over alleged delay in the disbursement of the awards for the session.