No doubt, one major challenge education sector in Nigeria continues to battle with is financing especially for the low income people. This major factor confirmed recent figures issued by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) that the population of Nigeria’s out-of-school children has increased from 10.5 million to 13.2 million. This increase is basically tied to lack of fund to cater for basic education in Nigeria.
Therefore in a bid to address this major gap, FoodCo Nigeria Limited, a diversified consumer goods company dealing in retail, fast food and manufacturing has announced a long term scholarship scheme for various public schools in Ibadan.
135 students from seven schools in Ibadan participated from the scholarship scheme and over 50 students will be awarded a scholarship.
Speaking during the commencement of the scholarship scheme at Ibadan, Solomon Huesu, marketing manager, FoodCo Nigeria Limited said the scholarship scheme is part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme of giving back to the community.
“Today we are kick-starting the process of the Adegbenga Sun-Bashorun scholarship scheme. It is a CSR initiative where we want to give back to the society by giving scholarship to brilliant students in the city of Ibadan. They have come here today to write an examination, after which we will pick the best among them to be awarded the scholarship. The results of the examination are not out yet.
“Over 1,400 students entered to write the examination and we will pick the best amongst them and scholarship will be awarded to over 400 students. FoodCo has been here for over 30years, we have served the community and has grown the brand. So, as a firm, we want to give back to our community. We want to raise leaders of tomorrow and to go beyond being a commercial entity that serves for profit to being that brand that gives back and invest in the society where it operates,” Huesu added.
He explained that students that wrote the examination are from public schools and some of their parents are struggling with finance to take them to school, adding that what FoodCo is looking at doing is giving the students world class education, thereby providing them a platform that will make them excel anywhere in the world.
According to him, “If you educate one person, you have liberated a whole family, so giving scholarships to people who may not have been able to achieve this kind of education will change the story of the family that the scholarship is going into. The scholarship will cover from junior secondary school to senior secondary education. The scholarship will last as long as the student continuous to perform well. There are plans on how the scholarship will run and all of them are being worked out by a board in charge of the scheme.
“This is the first edition of this award. We have several other CSR initiatives. We have done Christmas parties for members of the community but now we are taking it to another level. A couple of weeks back, FoodCo also announced a scholarship scheme for its staff and this is just an expanded part of the programme.
“The brand understands that they have staff who would like to further their education but because of finance, they may not be able to do it. So, FoodCo is also giving them the opportunity to achieve the aspiration. We are going to have subsequent scholarships after this.
Huesu further explained that as a company, if it educates people, it will also be sustaining itself because it will have qualified labour force to pull from. He reiterated that by educating people, FoodCo will be empowering people in terms of income, as people who are educated will be able to earn better income on the long run and the more educated people are, the less crime in the society.
Also speaking on the scholarship scheme, Gbagi Lydia, State coordinator, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Ibadan Office lauded the initiative of FoodCo stressing that it expects other organisations to invest in such initiative.
On the some of the details of the scholarship, she said “The students are being examined on three subjects: Mathematics, English and Social Studies. Mathematics is chosen for students’ ability to manipulate numbers, English language to communicate effectively and social studies to know what is happening in their environment.
“This kind of programme will serve as motivators for the learners to learn better and we also encourage the parents to encourage the learners to go to school, irrespective of the condition of the parents.”
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