Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi Branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has awarded five indigent students an academic scholarship worth N500,000 to complement their educational pursuits.
Our correspondent reports that two indigent university students, Tahir Suleiman, Petroleum Engineering, and Christiana Thomas Haruna, Industrial Design, received the same scholarship award from the national secretariat of ASUU. Each received N200,000.
The benefiting students include Abdulaziz Isah, Statistics, 300 level; Musfaru Usman Abdulkarim, Civil Engineering; Rahamatu Ahmed Musa, Environmental Management Technology; Ayuba Abdulhamid, Computer Science; and Hassan Nenchi Elisha, Const. Tech Education. Each of them received N100,000.
Speaking while presenting the scholarship during a brief ceremony held at the ASUU Secretariat, ATBU, Yelwa campus on Tuesday, ASUU, ATBU Branch chairperson, Dr Angulu Haruna, explained that the gesture was in line with the National ASUU directives to branches and zones.
He stressed, “It is simply to support the lucky students in their academic pursuit, considering the economic situation of the country compared to the cost of education.”
Angulu Haruna stressed that ASUU is still advising the federal government to turn the student loan scheme into a scholarship award to relieve the beneficiaries’ repayment burden.
He advised the beneficiaries to use the amount for academic pursuits, pass with flying colours, and avoid distractions that may hinder their pursuit of academic excellence.
The convener of the scholarship programme, Prof Usman Aliyu Jalam, said that “ASUU national saw it expedient that it must be noticed over time that among students, even in public schools and public universities, where the school fees are relatively cheap, we still have indigent Nigerians who cannot access education, even in public universities.”
He added, “After taking note of that, the national ASUU, in its wisdom, came up with a scheme called the Indigent Scholarship. It is meant to, at least, cater for a few students within the ability of the union.”
“And, after seeing that, branches also came up with their initiatives to support in this form. ATBU, I think, is one of the pioneering universities that have channelled into this programme. I think we started with two. The branch is usually awarded to two. Now, we have grown up to five beneficiaries. And probably, maybe, as the financial situation of the union improves, we are likely to see improvements in the number,” he added.
According to the convener, “The only thing is that there are some who are more qualified than others. And that’s how we came up with this. And I wish to thank the branch chairman, the branch as well, for giving us this responsibility.”
Speaking on behalf of the ATBU and ASUU awardees, Abdulaziz Isah expressed happiness over the gesture, which he said would assist them in their academic pursuits.
He said, “In this situation of economic crunch, this award is coming at the right time. It will support us in carrying out research in our different courses of study.”
