School wants scholarship for poor children

The Dominican Order in Nigeria has unveiled an educational facility named Dominican College at Yangoji in Abuja.

The Director, Dominican Vocation Support and Project Coordinator, Rev. Fr. Stephen Ogbe, who addressed newsmen in Lagos, said the College will commence academic activities by September, 2021.

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He sought support to enable children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to enjoy the same quality of education as children from more stable backgrounds.

Ogbe who disclosed that over N500 million has been spent on the project noted that a sum of N250m is still needed to get the school running fully.

According to him, upon completion, the facility will provide a great succour for a number of out-of-school-children not only in the FCT, Abuja but also across the country.

The N250m needed is broken down into N40m for completion of physical structure at the school site; N120m for operational/running cost for one year and N90m proposed as seed capital for the indigent scholarship fund for the six-year period of studies.

He called on corporate bodies and individuals with the wherewithal to sponsor as many indigent students as possible to the College; noting that management of the College has graciously reserved some slots for that purpose.

According to the Nigeria Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) report in 2015, 13.2m children were out of school. The figure has increased over time following the dislocation of families due to the growing insecurity in the country and the devastating effect of COVID-19 pandemic.

To allay the fears of parents, the school said it is investing in robust security architecture by collaborating with the Police and other renowned security agencies to provide adequate security for both staff and students of the College.