Osun Lawmaker Offers Scholarship To 420 Students

The member representing Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency of Osun state, Hon. Oluwole Oke, has expanded his technical education scholarship scheme with the enrolment of 420 new beneficiaries across the state’s nine Government Technical Colleges.

The latest intake deepened the five-year-old programme, which began as a pilot initiative at the Ijebu-Jesa Government Technical College before its statewide rollout two years ago.

Speaking with journalists on the programme over the weekend, the lawmaker, stated that the new beneficiaries included mostly year 1 students, alongside year 2 intakes in eight colleges and students from year 1 to year 3 at the Ijebu-Jesa centre.

He explained that with this addition, the total number of students sponsored under the scheme has risen to about 1,500 — a remarkable figure for a programme run solely from the lawmaker’s personal resources.

Oke committed roughly N15 million per term, amounting to about N40 million per academic session, as the scholarship covered school fees, enrolment charges, lesson fees and related expenses.

The lawmaker’s long-running advocacy for stronger investment in vocational education also aligned with the Federal Government’s recent decision to introduce free tuition in all Federal Technical Colleges nationwide.

Oke described the scholarship as a deliberate response to Nigeria’s widening skills gap, rising youth unemployment and the growing need for hands-on, innovation-driven competencies.

“Technical and vocational education remains one of the most reliable pathways to empowering young people.

“By equipping them with practical abilities and creativity-driven training, we are not only reducing unemployment but also building a new generation of self-reliant Nigerians,” he said.

Oke urged students across the state to take advantage of the opportunity, describing the investment as a commitment to building “a better, brighter and more empowered generation.”

The administrators of the various technical colleges in Osun, said the impact of the scheme is already visible, with increased enrolment and graduation rates attributed partly to Oke’s intervention.

Stakeholders said that the initiative had become a model for community-driven support in technical and vocational training, with some state actors and private individuals studying its structure for possible replication.