Samson Adams was preparing to go to a local community secondary school just like his mates at the Local Authority Primary School, Iloko-Ijesha, in the Oriade Local Government Area of Osun State when he heard about the Olashore International School Association (OISA) Foundation scholarship opportunity.
Initially, he didn’t give the scholarship a thought let alone apply for it.
Scholarship opportunity was not popular among the students of the community school at the period.
Similarly, that a poor village boy like him could attend Olashore International School, a high-profile tuition-paying school for free sounded like a fantasy to him.
“But I was persuaded particularly by our headmaster to apply and sit for the entrance examination, which I passed very well and I was offered the scholarship,” Samson told Nigerian Tribune in an interview.
That was how he emerged as one of the first recipients of the scholarship award in 2013.
Now, Samson seeing himself in the midst of children of rich and elitist parents and from the cities at Olashore International School was intimidating for him.
“That was true. To blend with other students most of whom were from the cities and wealthy homes was really not easy initially for me, a son of a poor farmer and from a village school right there in Iloko.
“At Olashore, you must have to communicate either with fellow students or teachers constantly in the English Language, which I was not used to where I came from.
“We communicated more in our native language, Yoruba, and with the majority of us using Ijesha ascent.
“Students must also have to live in the hostel which was equally strange to me.
“So, Olashore International was a completely different environment for me such that when I returned to the hostel on my first day, I had to withdraw to a corner and cry.”
But without long, Samson encouraged himself and came out of his shell and started interacting with others both in class and in the hostel.
“And by the time I was in JSS2, I had gained some confidence and ability to interact and participate effectively in class and during extra-curriculum activities.
Gradually, Samuel started to see some of his mates who had deficiencies in some subjects coming closer to him on their own for lessons and in the process, his perception about life and the road to a better future began to be cleared to him.
By the time he passed out from school in 2019, he had one of the best West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) results in his set. He also had the best UTME score (330 over 400 marks) ever recorded by any student of the school since its inception 28 years ago.
And in addition, he won the Council of British International School (COBIS) Student Achievement Award that same year.
Today, Samson, now 20, and an indigene of Delta State, is in 300-level at Pan-Atlantic University (PAU) Lagos, studying Economics.
This time around, it is PAU that offers him a full scholarship also because of his exceptional performance in WASSCE and UTME and also for winning the COBIS award.
Now, Samson’s Cummulative Gradient Point Average (CGPA) is one of the highest in his class.
He is thankful to God for his background and his achievement and also to the OISA Foundation for providing the platform.
He said if not for the scholarship opportunity at Olashore International where he acquired according to him high-quality and complete education with good exposure and without paying a dime, coming to PAU, another high tuition-paying school would have most likely been impossible.
“Where would I have gotten millions of Naira to pay as school fees either at Olashore or PAU?” he reasoned. “That was why I said these could only be God in action.”
Samson’s ambition after his first degree is to further his education and become a lecturer and entrepreneur.
He said he would certainly dedicate part of his resources to the help of the needy, particularly on issues that concern their education.
He said there were many children from less privileged homes like himself in the country that really need help even if little to prepare them for a better future.
Samson is not alone as the beneficiary of the OISA Foundation scholarship. There are several others. Monfus Olanipekun, 20, an indigene of Osun State, and who just finished his ‘AL’ examination and hoping for further studies, is another one.
He, just like Samson, also told Tribune Online that the scholarship had raised his hope for a better future.
OISA Foundation was established by the children of Oba Oladele Olashore, the late Owaloko of Iloko- Ijesha and founder of Olashore International School to sustain, on a large scale, the philanthropic activities of impacting and transforming lives and communities their late father was known for in his lifetime.
The chairman of the foundation, Princess Olapeju Sofowora, said at the 10th annual memorial lecture held recently in Lagos to mark the 10th memorial anniversary of the late monarch that the scholarship opportunity was started with people in the Iloko-Ijesha community and later extended to those in Osun State but now nationwide.
She said the goal of the OISA Foundation, which is being run independently from Olashore International School is to, among others help equip brilliant students from financially poor homes across the country with the right knowledge and skills to achieve their dreams and aspiration for life.
She added that the foundation is also providing scholarships to brilliant students at Iloko Model College and also helping adolescent students across Nigeria in mental wellness to keep them mentally and emotionally fit as they journey in their academic pursuits.
She said the impacts the foundation had made so far in society such as in the life of Samson and numerous others have been a source of encouragement to the foundation, calling for support of other Nigerians and corporate bodies to enable the foundation to do more.
Rallying support for the foundation, the former Minister of Health and Social Services, Prince Julius Adeluyi-Adelusi and the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria( CBN), Dr Joseph Sanusi, as well as former Foreign Affairs Minister, General Ike Nwachukwu(retd), among other prominent Nigerians said at the memorial lecture, that as far as they are concerned, they would continue to identify with the foundation and its objectives of giving brighter future for children from the less privileged homes irrespective of their tribes and religious backgrounds.
They said the vision is worthy of support, calling on other well-to-do and financially average individuals, corporate organisations and institutions in the country to join the train for national development.
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