From Esther Akaa, Lafia
Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has approved the upward review of the bursary of indigent law school students from N100,000 to N300,000.
Governor Sule also increased the bursary of students living with disabilities, who are studying in various higher institutions of learning from N20,000 to N30,000, even as he upgraded the bursary of undergraduates from N10,000 to N20,000.
The Executive Secretary of the Nasarawa State Scholarship Board, Hajiya Sa’adatu Yahaya disclosed this at a press conference marking the flag-off of disbursement of bursary to over 8000 beneficiaries, held on Wednesday in Lafia.
According to her, the state government was currently sponsoring some of its indigenes in different courses in Philippines, India, Cyprus and Turkey respectively.
“The present administration, under the leadership of His Excellency, Engineer Abdullahi A. Sule, has continued to accord education topmost priority, considering the pivotal role the sector plays in the upliftment of the standard of living of the citizens.
“The Governor sponsored indigenes of the state to study courses that are particularly relevant to the state, such as medicine, nursing and engineering outside the country.
“Some of the students currently undergoing their studies outside the country include Peace Josea, medicine (Philippines), Zulaihat Doma, Nursing (India), Nuhu Abdulhaq Isa, Biomedical Engineering (Cyprus) and Hajara Abdullahi Ahmed, Pilot (Turkey), amongst several others,” Yahaya said.
She noted that the governor on assumption into office in 2019, promptly cleared the backlog of bursary and scholarship grants to students since 2016, amounting to N195m covering 2014 to 2020.
Yahaya explained that the 2020/ 2021 bursary disbursement will be done through the use of verve cards to ensure accountability and transparency in the process.
She noted further that the disbursement would be done in two phases, beginning from October 20 to November 4, 2022 at various centres across the state, saying that Governor Sule had already given approval and released over N100 million for the first phase of the payment.
“The board is therefore, using this opportunity to inform the Nasarawa State indigent students studying at various institutions of higher learning, that the disbursement exercise of 2020/2021 will be carried out in two (2) phases with the use of verve cards.
“The phase one disbursement of the verve cards will commence from 20th October, 2022 at the three senatorial districts of the state.
“Students are therefore, expected to come with the following documents; original admission letter, original Local Government Indigene Certificate, original last school fee receipt, Voter’s card/National ID card, Original Primary School certificate and all documents should be photocopied,” she said.
The executive secretary, who said that at the conclusion of the first phase on November 4, and subsequent submission of report to the governor, the second phase will begin, called on the students to be orderly to ensure a seamless disbursement.
She, therefore, commended the governor for the gesture and urged the people of the state to support him to succeed beyond 2023.