A renowned lawyer and former President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Chief Wole Olanipekun has presented scholarship award to indigent students in Ekiti State.
The scholarship scheme which commenced in 1996 has witnessed over 500 beneficiaries in the state.
Olanipekun who spoke during the annual event in Ikere-Ekiti at the weekend said a total of 143 students with 67 at the secondary school cadre, 73 university undergraduates, three law school students and a PhD candidate, would benefit from the 2020 edition of his scholarship scheme.
He said: “The essence of the scheme from its initiation till now was/is to develop, assist and upgrade indigent but brilliant students primarily from Ikere-Ekiti and its environs. It has now been extended to other communities both in and outside Ekiti.”
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria advised the beneficiaries to be more committed to their educational pursuit, saying success would only be attained with hard work and perseverance.
“I want to plead with the beneficiaries to take advantage of this unique opportunity available to each of them through this scheme to not only devote his or her time to real educational pursuit but also beam a searchlight into the future,” he said.
Olanipekun added that the just officially launched foundation will kick off with empowerment of 100 youth and 100 widows and aged that would benefit between N50,000 and N30,000 each to establish small scale businesses, to reduce poverty in Ekiti.
“Under the Wole Olanipekun Foundation Youth Empowerment Programme, while 100 youths will have a grant of N50,000 each in 2020, another set of 100 youths will be entitled to the same amount in 2021 and 2022 translating to 300 youth, while each of them will be entitled to non-interest yielding loans from the middle of 2021.
“For the widows and the aged people from 75 years of age, 100 of them will be empowered with N30,000 each under my foundation as part of the poverty alleviation programme.”
Olanipekun urged the well-meaning indigenes of the town to partner Governor Kayode Fayemi’s government to ensure the smooth take-off of the proposed University of Education, Science and Technology in Ikere Ekiti, for the radical economic development of the town.
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