ACROSS the Horizon, a youth development organisation, has awarded scholarships to 28 students of the Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo.
These students are among 28 others from Tower Polytechnic, Mufutau Lanihun College of Education, Federal School of Statistics and Federal College of Forestry, all in Ibadan, who also benefitted from the scholarship award.
Director of Operations of Across the Horizon, Mr Mobolaji Idowu, who spoke at the awards presentation ceremony at the Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, said, “We are here to award the students scholarship.
“We are grateful for the acceptance of the college, recognising what we want to do for students in Nigerian and across Africa. We recognise the rising poverty, unemployment and underemployment among young people across the African continent.”
He said this problem limits the potential of young people and prevents them from accessing opportunities that make them productive and self-sustaining.
“Africa is under-developed because the youth who could develop the continent lack opportunities to develop themselves. At Across the Horizon, we took it upon ourselves to bridge this gap.
“Our founder, in the United States, decided to make available to young people in Africa opportunities to develop themselves and attain their educational and financial goals,” he said.
Doing this, he said, will produce self-reliant youths who will in turn give back to society and develop it.
He said the target of the organization is the whole of Africa. Already, the organisation which began in 2015 has presence in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
He added that awards were given based on academic performance and an essay describing why they were best fit for the scholarship.
Provost of the college, Professor Kamoru Usman, expressed hope in the country’s future when he observed that Across the Horizon officials were young people.
“I am happy young people can start this philanthropic move at this age. By the time they are 50, 60 years old, you can imagine what they will do,” he noted.
He encouraged the organization to continue the good work, noting that government alone could not fund education.
The provost also appealed that students with special needs be considered in subsequent awards.
Earlier, registrar of the college, Mr Joseph Araoye, in his welcome address at the scholarships award presentation said, “We do not take this for granted, and we feel it must be well acknowledged.
“In an era when people are stealing money, we appreciate those who choose to give it out for a worthy cause.”
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