Association advocates scholarships for gifted students

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), has called on political office holders to award scholarships to academically gifted and indigent students in the country.

Mr Emmanuel Onwubiko, the National Coordinator of the organisation, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday.

According to him, political office holders should establish educational foundations to award scholarships to indigent students from their constituencies who are academically gifted.

“Establishing educational foundation will go a long way to encourage bright children and scholarship will be the best gift you can give such students,” Onwubiko said.

He said that millions of children in Nigeria cannot afford good education or are out of school following the economic recession.

The coordinator noted that most of the gifted children in our localities don’t have the means to move on with their education.

Onwubiko also said that hundreds of children are facing starvation and malnutrition every day, with many struggling in various Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps where disease and hunger are endemic.

He applauded the senator representing Orlu senatorial zone, Imo state, Hope Uzodinma for his award of full tuition free university scholarship to Chidnma Frances Nwadike.

Nwadike, 17-year-old girl made history in the just concluded Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) where she scored 311 to read medicine.

She scored 84 per cent in physics, 71 per cent in biology, 69 per cent in English language, and 87 per cent in Chemistry in the 2017 UTME.

Onwubiko urged other prominent Nigerians to emulate Sen. Uzodinma.