Sani Expands Scholarship Access In Kaduna

Kaduna Governor, Senator Uba Sani has refocused the State Scholarship and Loans Board to reflect his administration’s policy of inclusiveness without sacrificing merit.

The Executive Secretary of the Board, Prof.Yahya Ibrahim, who stated this at a media briefing on Friday, said that the governor’s new template has started bearing fruits.

Ibrahim said that students from humble backgrounds and those from rural local governments as well as remote rural communities were now benefitting from foreign scholarships, which has expanded and enriched the Kaduna State Scholarship award system.

“In the past, beneficiaries of foreign scholarships were mostly from urban local governments like Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Igabi, Zaria, Sabon Gari, Jema’a and Zangon Kataf local governments.

“But the all inclusive government of Sen Mal Uba Sani changed the narratives within the shortest time,” he said.

He added that prior to the current administration of governor Sani, most beneficiaries of the scholarship “from middle and upper middle class families who attended elite secondary schools and whose parents can sponsor their wards to any University abroad.”

He, however, noted that Uba Sani’s administration has now made deliberate efforts to include students from remote local governments and those from humble backgrounds, to benefit from the scholarship scheme without lowering standards.

The Executive Secretary further argued that the last set of beneficiaries who graduated as medical doctors showed that the lower segment of the state was carried along in the selection process.

He said, “for example, there was a female beneficiary who lived in Television village Kaduna, whose father is deceased amongst the new medical doctors.

“There’s another one from Jaba local government whose father is a retired civil servant.

“From Ikara local government, there’s also someone who benefited from the foreign scholarship. His father is also a retired civil servant, and today, he is a medical doctor.”

While thanking the governor for giving the young medical doctors employments, in order to boost the stock of personnel in public hospitals, Ibrahim said “the impact of His Excellency’s decision to employ these young and talented medical doctors in terms of reduction in waiting time to see doctors will improve the health sector.

“The gesture will also serve as impetus for students on scholarship to put in their best, knowing that their hard work will be rewarded.”

Sani Expands Scholarship Access In Kaduna is first published on The Whistler Newspaper