Kunle Adelabu
-Closing June 30
The Ikorodu Division Peace Initiative Limited (IDPIL) has enjoined students in various public universities, polytechnic and monotechnic across the country that are indigenes or residents of Ikorodu Division, to apply for its annual educational support initiatives – Scholarship and Bursary Schemes worth of 30 million naira.
The application portal, which was opened the first week of May, will close by the end of June.
This year’s edition is the fourth edition of the scheme which started four years ago. In the last year’s edition of the educational support, a total of 281 students benefited from the Scholarship (200,000), Bursary I (100,000) and Bursary II (50,000) categories.
To apply, interested candidates should click on the link below:
Leadership of the IDPIL gave the charge to students from Ikorodu at a press conference held at the IDPIL headquarters, Ita – Elewa, Ikorodu, recently.
Hon. Adebimpe Akinsola, former Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture who is the Chairman, IDPIL Education and Scholarship Committee, said that the group is keen on the education support and development because of the connection between education and security.
She added that the educational initiative is aimed at supporting and encouraging young people in the division, to pursue their education.
“For peace to reign, education is a key factor and we have a lot of young people that want to go to school but they are unable to, and that is where IDPIL comes in to provide support.
“The management and leadership of the IDPIL, under the leadership of Odofin Adewunmi Ogunsanya, SAN, deemed it fit to give scholarship and bursary to students that are in need.
“It started in 2022 in Igbogbo, second edition in Ibeshe, while the third edition was held in lkorodu. It has become a yearly event and for this year, the plan is already on and we have already opened our portal for students to apply. It was opened in the first week of May, and it is going to close at the end of June”, she said.
She added that: “The programme is divided into three phases: Scholarship which is N200, 000 per student, Bursary I which is N100, 000 and it is one – off and third is Bursary II which is N50, 000 and also a one – off scheme.
“Any student that qualifies to receive the scholarship which is N200, 000, will get it till he/she finishes his/her academic programme but the beneficiaries must retain a certain grade to continue the benefit”.
Dr. Abiodun Fatai Abatan, the Dean, Students’ Affairs, Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, who is a consultant to the IDPIL on the educational initiative, further provided insight on the schemes.
“Scholarship is essentially for indigent students in public universities, while students going to private universities are not included at all, because they have the financial capacity to pay.
“For any student to qualify for the scholarship, he or she must have a CGPA of 4.5, and it is tenured to the extent that you apply till you finish your programme. Meaning that, if you apply for it in your 200 level, you have to enjoy it till you graduate but there are conditions attached to that. One, you must submit your progress report showing that you are maintaining your 4.5 CGPA, and inability to do so means you will not be able to enjoy it anymore.
“Specifically, for you to qualify and benefit, apart from the fact that you made a 4.5 CGPA, either you are in a university, polytechnic or monotechnic, whether federal or state, you also need to go through aptitude test because we understand what obtains in some institutions where students might not be able to justify his/her first class grade. That is why we have to put them through aptitude test for us to be double sure and revalidate that you truly merited it.
Abata continued: “More importantly, they also go through background check of the validity and authencity of the documents that they are submitting. In that instance, we work with the universities and other institutions to be sure that we are getting the right documents.
“The second category is the Bursary I and you can only qualify for that if you are on 3.5 CGPA, which is a Second Class Upper Division and which is equal to Upper Credit in Polytechnic and Monotechnic. Like in the scholarship, they also go through background check”.
While stating that the schemes are not discriminatory, the IDPIL consultant emphasised that proof of indigeneship and residency are also required to access any of the categories
“The scholarship and Bursary I are open to indigenes and residents. When we talk about an indigene, he or she is someone who claims to be a native of Ikorodu Division, and we expect them to show documents to that effect which are letters from the Oba and the identification letter from the local government. Then, if you are a resident, we expect you to submit LASRRA to prove your residency.
“It is not a discriminatory scholarship, it is open to indigenes and non – indigenes.
“And for the third category, you must have less than 3.5 CGPA which is usually Second Class Lower Division, except if you have 1.0. We won’t accept you. We accept from 3.4 to 2.0 CGPA, that is the requirement for Bursary II”.
Dr. Abatan, who is also an Associate Professor in LASU , also spoke on the consideration for those that are to benefit from the third category of the scheme.
“More importantly, we put forward certain considerations for the Bursary II which is that you must be an indigent student. To determine this, we do a lot of background check to be able to verify. For instance, if your parents is a civil servant on Level 16, obviously your parent should be able to pay for your education, but if any of your parent is a retail seller at the Ikorodu garage or your father is engage in a menial job, that is easy for us to determine”, he said.
