Osun Spent N521m Bursary on 25,283 Students
The State of Osun government in furtherance of its determination to ensure that education is available to all indigenes irrespective of their financial conditions has provided no fewer than Twenty-Five Thousand, Two Hundred and Eighty Three (25,283) students of the state origin with bursary awards worth N521million.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr. Lawrence Oyeniran, who disclosed this at the weekend, explained that a sum of N275.7 million was paid to final year students of the state origin across Nigerian tertiary institutions for the 2012/2013 academic session.
He added that a special grant to the tune of N17.3 million has also been paid to Law school students of Osun Origin in six campuses of the Nigerian Law School for the 2012/ 2013.
Oyeniran stressed that the sum of N208.6 million was paid to 20,215 final year students from 74 institutions and N18.5 billion to 185 law school students in five campuses last year.
According to him, “What the Rauf Aregbesola-led administration has done with the payment of Bursary to the students is in compliance with one of the six-point integral action plan that focuses on the provision of functional education.
“We should not forget that N2,000 used to be paid as bursary to final year students in colleges of education, N3,000 to all undergraduates and N10,000 to law students and their counterparts in colleges of medicine.
“With the coming of Aregbesola, bursary award to student in tertiary institutions is now N10,000 flat, irrespective of the student’s course of study, while N20,000 is being paid to final year students of law and medicine and a generous review of the N10,000 to students of Nigerian law schools to N100,000″. The director noted.
The Bureau of Communications and Strategy in the Office of the Governor, while restating the administration’s commitment to the restoration of functional education, said that all the education initiatives of the administration that are being commended from far and near are aimed at producing students who are well-prepared and who can compete with any student in any part of the world.
“It is less than four years that this revolution started. The results are already showing. The surest way to change the society is to change the way people are educated. This, this government has challenged itself to achieve,” the Bureau’s Director, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon said.
He added that the many recognitions received by the state’s education policies are enough testimonials that Osun has the template for solving many of the disturbing national questions.
“For instance, the Federal Government has now realised the need to introduce the school meal programme. This is one programme that has increased school enrollments in Osun. It alleviates poverty and create jobs for local food vendors and farmers. The ripple effects are just simply tremendous,” Okanlawon added.
(Source: osun.gov.ng)