Ondo pays N248m scholarships, bursaries

The Ondo State Scholarship Board will on
Thursday (today) begin the disbursement of
N248m to students of Ondo State origin as
scholarship grants and bursaries.
Briefing journalists in Akure, the Ondo State
capital, on Wednesday, chairman of the board, Mr.
Daye Awude, said about 25,000 students pursuing
academic programmes in different tertiary
institutions across the country would benefit from
the payments.
He put the regular scholarship and bursary
components of the scheme at N100m and N248m
respectively.
The categories include the regular scheme, the
physically-challenged, medical students in clinical
stages and those in the Nigerian Law Schools.
According to Awude, those in the regular scheme
will get N36m; medical, N38m; law school, N12m
and the physically challenged, N10m.
“Disbursement will be done in phases, not at once
and the accounts of beneficiaries will be credited,
because we do not handle cash any longer,” the
scholarship board chairman said.
He also noted that the board had been making
efforts to expand its scheme to cover foreign
students hence the partnerships with countries in
Europe to perfect the plan.
He said the board, in 2014, commenced payments
of students studying outside of the state before
paying those within the state.
“But this year, the reverse will be the case. We
will start paying those within the state and then to
other schools outside the state,” Awude said.
Responding to the development, President of the
Senate of the National Association of Ondo State
Students, Mr. Fagbemigun Adewunmi, thanked the
government for providing funds for the payments.
He however noted that the students would need
the government to do more than they had done.
He added that investment in the future of the state
was worth the efforts.