By Providence Ayanfeoluwa

Rotary International District 9111, under the aegis of District Educational and Welfare Endowment Fund, DEWEF has given  N4 million Bursary fund to 20 indigent undergraduates selected across Universities and Polytechnics in Ogun and Lagos States respectively.

The students got N200,000 each to aid in the payment of school fees, feeding allowance and textbooks for a session.

Speaking, Past District Governor, PDG Somo Omoniyi,  the Chairman, DEWEF Board of Trustees District 9111, disclosed that each of the twenty awardees were given the money to defray academic expenses.

He explained that the condition for sustaining the scholarship is for the students to maintain scores of over 3.0 in their academic CPGA and to join the Rotaract Club in their various campuses.

He said, “they are encouraged to join Rotaract which is the Youth arm of Rotary to imbibe the giving spirit of members of the Club, who out of their charitable nature contribute annually to give out these scholarships.”

According to Rotarian Alàba Olalekan, Chairman of DEWEF, District 9111, “we made request for brilliant and indigent students in HND 1 and 200 levels in Universities from the 74 Clubs in our District and 62 candidates were presented and were made to undergo computer based aptitude test (CBT) conducted by West African Examinations Council(WAEC), from where we got 40 that passed the test.

 “The 40 qualified students also went through another round of oral interviews before we eventually got the 20 students that qualified for the scholarships. Aside from the academic qualifications, we also ascertained their indigentship, so we will give out the scholarship to those who truly qualified and deserve it.

Rotarian Dr Wole Kukoyi, Pioneer District Governor Rotary International District 9111, said, “The  DEWEF Fund was established by District 9110  (now Districts 9111 and 9112) in the 1991-92 Rotary year to cater for the needy and indigent students in tertiary institutions and  to support the District’s intervention efforts on education.

“The value of the scholarship used to be N100,000k but was later increased to N150,000, and now N200, 000 students. “However, this year, we felt that the amount is not commensurate with the current economic realities and we decided to increase it. “The purpose is to help brilliant but poor indigent students in tertiary institutions in Lagos and Ogun States of Nigeria, to fund their education and provide for their welfare.”

Kukoyi stated that “Rotarians have been voluntarily donating with a view to achieving the objective of this educational cause”.