Determined to strengthen the creative industry in Nigeria with well-trained talents, MTN Foundation has graduated a total of 29 artistes from MUSON School of Music in Lagos after a two-year scholarship programme.
Speaking at the graduation concert and ceremony of the MUSON School of Music in Lagos, Dennis Okoro, the director of MTN Foundation, charged the teachers to emphasise more on skills, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration rather than certificates.
Okoro noted that the styles of teaching have changed and that teachers should develop a relationship with their students in the classroom and guide them in a way that will make them succeed in life not only in certification.
The director of the MTN Foundation admonished the graduands not to be discouraged as they go into the society as trained musicians, but to stick to quality and develop inter and intra-personal relationships with others to achieve success.
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“It is not the end of your education, you are only exposed to what music would be, it is up to you to take it to the heights,” Okoro said.
Louis Mbanefo, chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT), MUSON urged the graduands to give back to the community and the school by passing on the skills they have learned.
“You have distinguished yourselves and shown your talents, do not fall prey to Nigeria’s device of complacency, materialism, and anti-intellectualism. Every musician must put hours into practice and make your music come alive. You must develop a tune that is pleasant to the ears and read books as voraciously as you can,” Mbanefo said.
Banke Ademola, the director of MUSON School of Music, lauded MTN Foundation for the opportunity and scholarship given to the students to showcase their various talents, especially in music.
The high point of the graduation ceremony was the presentation of various categories of awards to some outstanding graduands by the MTN Foundation. Special awards for leadership, integrity, can-do, innovation, and relationship traits exhibited by exceptional students in the course of the programme were presented to Aghulor Uche, Akwarandu Onyinyechi, and Kolade Emmanuel, who emerged as first, second, and third respectively.
