Rotary International District 9111 will present N10.2 million in bursary awards to 51 indigent undergraduates from universities and polytechnics in Lagos and Ogun States.
The District Educational and Welfare Endowment Fund (DEWEF), scholarship cheques will be presented at the Rotary Centre, Ikeja GRA, Lagos. District Governor Rtn. Prince Henry Akinyele will preside over the event.
Each beneficiary will receive N200, 000 to cover school fees, feeding, and textbooks for one academic session.
Past District Governor Oluwanisola Omoniyi, Chairman of the DEWEF Board of Trustees, said the money is meant “to defray academic expenses, payment of fees, feeding allowance, and textbooks for a session.”
He added that recipients must maintain a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average of 3.0 to retain the award. The students are also encouraged to join Rotaract Clubs on their campuses.
“They are encouraged to join Rotaract, the youth arm of Rotary, to imbibe the giving spirit of members of various Clubs who, out of their charitable nature, contribute annually to fund these scholarships,” Omoniyi said.
The Chairman of the DEWEF Scholarship Committee, Rotarian Sulemon Adekunle Mufutau, said the selection began with requests to 84 clubs in the district for “brilliant and indigent students” in HND 1 and 200-level university classes.
Sixty-two candidates were presented. They went through screening, and 30 candidates were invited to take a computer-based aptitude test conducted by WAEC, of which 15 candidates passed,” Mufutau said.
“The 15 qualified students also went through oral interviews before we eventually got 8 new students who qualified for the scholarships.” The 8 new awardees will join 43 students already on the scheme, bringing this year’s total to 51.
“Aside from academic qualifications, we also ascertained their indigent status so we will give the scholarships to those who truly qualify and deserve it,” he added.
Mufutau said the DEWEF Fund was established in the 1991-92 Rotary year by District 9110, now split into Districts 9111 and 9112, “to cater for needy and indigent students in tertiary institutions and support the district’s intervention efforts on education.”
The award was increased from N100, 000 to N200, 000 per student last year, “because we felt the initial amount was not commensurate with current economic realities.”
“The purpose of Rotary District 9111 DEWEF Scholarship is to help brilliant but poor indigent students in tertiary institutions in Lagos and Ogun States fund their education and provide for their welfare,” he said.
Rotarians, he noted, have been voluntarily donating to sustain the educational projects.
