2015 edition of the Ibadan Foundation
Scholarship and Bursary Award held yesterday in the ancient city and thirthy people who are Ibadan
indigenes (fifteen secondary school pupils and 15
students of various polytechnics and universities) benefited from it.
The president of the foundation, Chief
Bayo Alugbin said the winners were chosen based on academic excellence.
At the event, which was held at the
Kakanfo Inn and Conference Centre, Ibadan on Sunday, over N6m was
distributed to the winners of the scholarship and bursary.
Alugbin said, “A lot of applications were
received out of which these winners were chosen based on academic
excellence. To be a winner, you must be the best in your class.”
The patron of the foundation and Chairman
of the KICC, Dr. Lekan Are, advised parents on the importance of
upholding indigenous culture, while also calling on them and the
recipients to play their roles in shaping a better future.
He also stressed the need to be computer literate.
He said, “I call on the recipients to
study hard for a better future. If you don’t make sacrifice today, you
will suffer tomorrow. This is the only thing that will gladden the
hearts of your parents. I also call on the parents to play their roles
in the education of their children. Their children must be computer
literate because that is the only standard through which today’s world
is measured. Whatever you plan to do, you must be able to operate a
computer.
“It is also important to protect our
indigenous language and culture. You must understand your own language
to be excellent in the mastery of a foreign language. We must protect
our culture for our future to be secured. I raised one of my children in
the US but I spoke Yoruba to him despite the fact that we lived in an
English speaking society,” Are added.
Are also urged the students to shun cultism.
The Chairman of the foundation’s
scholarship board, Chief Lere Adigun, said the foundation had spent
millions of naira on the project which is in its 17th edition.
“In this era of rapid socio-economic and
political development worldwide, education remains the cardinal bedrock
of empowerment, and its pragmatic recognition inspired the basic idea of
sponsoring the educational advancement of indigenes of Ibadan. It is
our hope that this huge investment will yield the desired dividends
through utilisation of the scholarship for the intended purpose,” he
said.