NYSC member wins UK varsity £6,000 scholarship

A National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member serving in Lagos, Mr Taiwo Jolaade, has won a postgraduate scholarship worth £6,000 (about N2.8m at the exchange rate of N465.84\£ as of Monday) from the University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom.

The grant will cover part of his school and accommodation fees at the prestigious university.

A professor of political journalism at the university, Ivor Gaber, announced the grant in Lagos, last week, at the official presentation of prizes to Jolaade as the overall winner and the other top two of this year’s edition of an annual essay competition being organised and sponsored by the university in conjunction with Nigerian PressLog.

Jolaade, a graduate of Pharmacy from Olabisi Onabanjo University, OOU, Ogun State, also received a sum of N50, 000 cash and a certificate as part of his reward. He will also enjoy an internship programme with the university at its Lagos office while his first and second runners-up, Michael Eze and Okechukwu Mbaka went home in addition to the certificate, with N30,000 and N20,000, respectively and will both enjoy also an internship programme.

Addressing the gathering, the majority of whom corps members, Gaber, who is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, said the essay and scholarship were instituted to serve as part of the social contributions of the university to the political development in Nigeria.

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He, however, cautioned youths against the spread of fake news as the country is preparing for another general election, saying doing contrary would have huge consequences not only on Nigeria’s democracy but also on its economy.

Speaking about the essay with a topic, “Nigeria’s democracy in the era of fake news,” Project Coordinator, Writing Games, Nigeria Press Log, Mr Isime Esene, said about 150 entries were received this year and from both youth corps members and undergraduates.

He noted that though this year’s edition was third in the series, fewer entries than that of last year were received probably because of it concerned politics and not sport as the case previously.

One of the assessors, who is a Professor of International Communication at the University of Uyo, Nigeria, Nnamdi Ekeanyanwu, said most of the entries received were of high quality and that it was difficult for them to arrive at the best three.