The Executive Secretary, Borno State Scholarship Board, Mr Adamu Usman, said only one indigene of the state received Federal Government Scholarship in 2020.
Speaking in Maiduguri, on Monday, at the launch of the second batch payment of state scholarship grants to students in tertiary institutions, Usman blamed the development to lack of sensitization of eligible applicants on the programme.
He urged the state Ministry of Higher Education to mobilize indigenous students in tertiary institutions, to explore the scholarship and grants offered by the federal government and other organisations.
The executive secretary disclosed that the state government had released N624 million for the payment of scholarship to 23,776 students from 49 institutions across the country.
He said students studying in nine institutions across the country were paid under the first batch, while the remaining students would be paid under the second batch.
Usman said the board’s operations had been computerized, adding that a website had also been developed for eligible students to visit and apply for the state government’s scholarship.
In his remarks, the Commissioner for Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Babagana Mustapha, directed the board to evolve a means of alerting eligible students about the federal scholarship and other education grants, whenever they were advertised.
He lauded the board for developing the website, as well as training its staff on information technology, noting that this was in line with the state government’s agenda and strategic development plan.
Mustapha urged beneficiaries of the scholarship grants to reciprocate the gesture by dedicating themselves to their studies.
Hauwa Usman, a student of the University of Abuja and Baba-Ali Abba, a student of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, who spoke after receiving their alert of N30,000 each, lauded the government for the intervention which, they said, was a big relief for both students and parents.
“I am the leader of Borno State students in ABU Zaria and I will want to say a big thank you to the state government for this timely gesture,” Abba said.
To round-off the occasion, Mustapha inaugurated the board’s scholarship portal and Internet service, according to NAN reports.
