Lagos State Government Ups Bursary for Students By 100%; Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has approved a 100% increase in bursaries for students of Lagos State origin enrolled in tertiary institutions across the country.
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The increase will take effect in the 2022–2023 academic year, according to a statement released on Sunday by Mr. Abdur Rahaman Lekki, Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Scholarship Board.
At a meeting in Alausa, Ikeja, Lekki claimed to have previously informed representatives of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and the National Union of Lagos State Students (NULASS) for the state of Lagos.
According to him, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab, the governor of Sanwo- Olu’s special adviser on education, requested the meeting, which is why it was called.
Lekki claims that in addition to representatives from the state government, the meeting was attended by the presidents of the two student union organizations, NANS and NULAS, as well as a few of their executive members.
He claimed that the 100% bursary increase and other benefits were designed to support Lagos State students’ educational needs so they could deal with the current economic climate.
Lekki also disclosed that during the recently completed State Economic Summit, also known as the “Ehingbeti Summit,” resolutions on the creation of the Lagos Diaspora Scholarship Fund were adopted by the government.
He claims that the purpose of the scholarship fund is to help all Lagos state residents enrolled in tertiary institutions across the nation further their education by offering scholarships and bursaries to them.
A minor delay in the payment of the remaining bursary/scholarship benefits for 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 prompted him to make an appeal to the students.
The board secretary explained that the delay was caused by the state government’s current data-cleansing/verification process across all institutions.
“The ongoing data cleansing/verification operation is to verify that only qualified students from Lagos state benefited from the scheme,” he explained.
Lekki said that the Lagos state scholarship board detected a fraudulent act at the expense of the original students of the state that the scheme was intended for during the ongoing verification and data cleansing activity.
According to him, it had been noticed that some individuals who were no longer students or who were not even registered at any higher education institution were abusing the system.
The board secretary announced that after the current process was finished, payment of unpaid bursary and scholarship benefits would start right away.
He clarified that the Lagos State College of Health Technology (LASCOHET) students will start receiving their unpaid tuition for the 2020–2021 academic year on Monday, October 17.
He said that the LASCOHET administration had finished the student verification process and had given the board the list of its legitimate students.
Lekki added that all necessary information had been given to qualified applicants and that the Board had scheduled assessment exams for new scholarship beneficiaries for the year 2022/2023 for October 29.
He said there was no reason to do so because it was included in the state budget, allaying students’ concerns that the state government would abandon the initiative.
He claimed that the new increase and other benefits to make life easier for students while they study were included in the state government’s 2023 budget.
I want you to be aware that the Lagos State Scholarship Board recently hired a new board secretary to manage both bursary and scholarship benefits.
That ought to have been sufficient to convince you that there was never a plan to put an end to the scheme. For the benefit of our students, scholarships and bursaries will be offered without interruption.
In keeping with the T.H.E.M.E.S development agenda, he said, “the governor will not stop it; rather, he will continue to improve on it as part of his vision for sustained educational progress in the state.”
The leaders of the two student organizations, NANS and NULASS, reacted by denying rumors that their members had planned to blockade the Third Mainland Bridge on October 17 in opposition to the failure to pay benefits owed for the 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 academic sessions on time.
There were also other exco members and their presidents, Olusesi Tolulope (NANS) and Shasanya Akinola (NULASS).
They denied rumors of a protest by Lagos State students and stated that their members had full confidence in Sanwo-Olu as a trustworthy governor and father who they could count on to uphold his commitments.
A letter of assurance from their members was presented to the state government by the student union’s leaders.
They asserted that Sanwo-Olu administration had previously provided quick and efficient distribution of both scholarship and bursary benefits in addition to demonstrating a commitment to educational advancement through various reforms.
The governor was also praised by the children for eradicating the backlogs his administration had inherited.
They claimed that any planned demonstration if there was one, was the work of disgruntled, anonymous people whose specialty was deceit and upsetting the peace. Lagos State Government Ups Bursary for Students By 100%
