OPay Digital Services Limited, popularly called OPay, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, to support 20 indigent undergraduates of the institution with a N300,000 scholarship for each of the students annually.

Speaking during the signing of the MoU with the university management held at its Senate building on Friday, the Chief Public Affairs Officer of the fintech company, Justin Zhang, said that the kind gesture was to help young Nigerians achieve their educational goals.

Zhang said that having lived in the country for about 13 years, he had discovered how some young Nigerians struggle to fund their educational pursuits.

He said that when the digital bank, which started operations in Nigeria in 2018, started making a profit, it decided to begin to give back to society, particularly the young generation, which forms the majority of its customer base, hence the scholarship project, which began last year.

Zhang said that the fintech company kicked off the scholarship project last year with the University of Ibadan representing the South and the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna, for the northern region.

He said, “I have worked for 13 years in Nigeria, particularly in the South-West, and I have also met many young ones who are quite smart but are having financial difficulties with their education. Some of these young ones, after spending a year at the university, may have to go and work for one or two years to get some money to pay for their school fees, and because of this, they have to be finishing schooling by 28 or 30, but if they have financial support, they could finish schooling by 23 or 24 and do so many more things for themselves and the society at large.

“So we started this programme last year. We picked the University of Ibadan for the southern region and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, for the northern region, but we have decided to extend it to 18 more universities this year, making 20 universities in all. For every university we pick, we grant 20 slots, and each benefiting student receives N300,000, which means that for every year we will be spending N120m for the scholarship project, and the first phase of this project will last for 10 years.”

Zhang said that the digital bank has equally donated educational materials such as books, bags, and other writing materials to some secondary schools, while it is planning empowerment for 100 women who will not only receive vocational training but also be supported to establish the trade learnt.

He pledged that the fintech company would continue to partner with relevant organisations to ensure that the Nigerian youth not only thrive but also build a solid future for themselves.

Speaking at the event, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Ayodeji Agboola, lauded Opay for deeming it fit to support and invest in the education of young Nigerians.

Agboola affirmed that “this kind of gesture is in line with the three Es objectives that we are pursuing at the university. We want our students to be able to pursue their education; we want them to be employable and also be employers of labour as well.”

The Vice-Chancellor also urged OPay to support the university in expanding its entrepreneurial drive for the students.

He explained that entrepreneurship did not only consist of vocational training but also involved helping the students to develop the entrepreneurial components of the academic programmes that they are studying.

The VC said, “When you visit our technology hub centre, you will see marvellous things and innovations by our students, but they lack the financial wherewithal to scale them up, and that is why I will urge OPay to consider partnering with the university in the areas of research fairs and boot camps.

“This will enable our students to market themselves to the outside world while we also look at how their various entrepreneurial drives and skills could be supported to achieve greater impact.”

The Students’ Union leader of the university, Muizz Olatunji, also applauded OPay for supporting the efforts of Nigerian youths to achieve their educational goals.

He explained that quite a number of students usually struggle to pay their school fees and that the student body often has to help these needy students.

Olatunji said, “On behalf of the entire student body of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, we sincerely thank OPay for this great support because it will help to ease the burden of some of our students who find it difficult to pay their school fees.

“We equally hope that OPay will also support the university’s entrepreneurial drive for the students because that is the way to achieve economic growth and prosperity for our dear nation.”