Tanimu Foundation has offered scholarships and starter kits to some young people in Benue State as a means of reversing the new ‘school is scam’ slogan discouraging students.
The slogan being spread on social media, discourages youth from schooling due to rising unemployment among those that went to school.
However, during this year’s ceremony, the foundation gave scholarships to level one students in tertiary institutions. Others who graduated from the foundation’s free vocational skills centre in Makurdi, the state capital also got starter packs.
A beneficiary, Mabel Adagache, 24, a HND student of Library Science at the Nasarawa State Polytechnic, told her story: “After my secondary school in 2017, I enrolled in a free computer training by the foundation for six months, did my industrial attachment and was employed at its Library unit.
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“I was working there until I got admission for my OND and the foundation has continued to support me.”
Similarly, Amina Ahmad, 22, a 100-level student of the Federal University, Lafia, applied for the scholarship, was interviewed and got the offer.
“Even before I proceeded to study Microbiology, the foundation has done a lot to encourage me to acquire a higher certificate. I worked in this foundation for three years and through the support given to me, I’m now an undergraduate.
“The foundation’s scholarship is not discriminatory, it’s open to Christians and Muslims whether male or female,” she added.
David Igba, a 100-level student of Benue State University said, “It’s quite encouraging when someone decides to assist under this harsh economy in the country.”
The founder, Associate Prof. Sabo Tanimu, a US-based medical practitioner, said his passion is to support youths to explore their talents.
Tanimu, who spoke through the foundation’s director, Alhaji Danladi Abdulkadir, also a medical practitioner, urged the beneficiaries to be good ambassadors of the foundation.
A cash award of N25,000 was given to deserving students while different categories of workers also got cash rewards.
The youths who learnt tailoring at the vocational training centre of the foundation also got a sewing machine each while those who completed their computer training and others who trained in science were awarded certificates and cash rewards.
