Lagos Scholarship Board Flags-Off Special Scholarship For Inclusion Awards 

The Lagos State Scholarship Board recently flagged off the Special Scholarship for Inclusion Awards for tertiary institutions in Lagos State at the Radio Lagos/Eko FM Multi-purpose Hall.

The initiative is designed to cater for students Living With Disabilities and vulnerable students in Lagos State University (LASU), Lagos State University of Technology (LASUTECH), Lagos State University of Education (LASUED), Lagos State College of Health Technology (LASCOHET), Lagos State Cooperative College (LASCOCO) and Lagos State College of Nursing (LASCON).

In his keynote address, the Honourable. Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Mr. Tolani Sule, said the inclusiveness that Mr. Governor is preaching is promoted to ensure that no one is left behind in the pursuit of education in Lagos State, and part of it is the presentation of special scholarships for inclusion awards for students of tertiary institutions in Lagos State.

He said if the Board were to make it open generally to all candidates applying for scholarship and bursary with the increasing number of disabilities, not many of the beneficiaries who are present for the award will be able to match other candidates. For this reason, he said the Lagos State Scholarship Board has chosen to do a special one for the disabled and the vulnerable.

He congratulated the Executive Secretary, Lagos State Scholarship Board, Mrs Rasheedat Adaranijo, who has taken up the challenge of promoting the mandates of the board vigorously.

In his goodwill message, the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr. Ope George, congratulated the Executive Secretary, Lagos State Scholarship Board, Mrs. Rasheedat Adaranijo, for the great feat and the first of its kind since the creation of the Scholarship Board.

“We focus a lot of time on road infrastructure. This time is on social protection. The state government has also done a lot of intervention through the state social register. This is domiciled in the social protection unit of the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget. We collaborate with the Lagos State Scholarship Board, Office of Civic Engagement, on inclusion, especially the vulnerable persons in Lagos State”, George said.

In her welcome remarks, the Executive Secretary, Lagos State Scholarship Board, Mrs. Rasheedat Daranijo, said the Board, since its inception, has been known to provide bursaries and scholarships to indigenes of Lagos State.

According to the Executive Secretary, “Today is the beginning of a journey that takes us to another realm of scholarship in the history of the Scholarship Board, which is in tandem with the present administration’s agenda of social inclusion with the objective that no one should be left behind”.

For People Living With Disabilities, she said it’s just another way of saying that the board recognises their worth and that they should put up with achieving all the things they are meant to do. The scholarship is to ensure that they can go through the educational journey with the support of the Lagos State Government.

She thanked the Honourable Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Ope George; Special Adviser, Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Olalekan Balogun, and the General Manager, Lagos State Office of Disability Affairs, Mrs. Adenike Oyetunde-Lawal for their support and collaborative efforts on securing the social register of the vulnerable and data on PLWD in Lagos State, which goes a long way in achieving the inclusion scholarship award.

The General Manager, Lagos State Office of Disability Affairs (LASODA), Mrs. Adenike Oyetunde-Lawal, said, “I congratulate the Executive Secretary, Lagos State Scholarship Board and myself for this great feat as our collaborative efforts have yielded fruitful results. I want to advise the awardees to take advantage of this gesture and be more productive in their studies and in society. There is ability in disability”.

“My biggest hope is that in your four years or five years of school, you can look back and say that this scholarship did improve the quality of your living at the school. And when that is a huge success, it is there for whoever becomes General Manager after me and whoever becomes Executive Secretary at the Scholarship Board to continue with what it is that we are doing. So please make sure that you push yourself into becoming productive in education.”

There are other goodwill messages from the Special Adviser to the Governor on Economic Planning and Budget, Mr Olalekan Balogun, and Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Students Affairs, Honourable Kapo Samuel.

Responding on behalf of the awardees, Miss Yekini Bukola said, “I want to, on behalf of the awardees for the special scholarship for inclusion and the vulnerable in the Lagos State Tertiary Institution, appreciate and thank the Lagos State Government through the Lagos State Scholarship Board for the awards. We are highly excited”.

The highlight of the occasion was the presentation of letters of award and cheques of N225,000 each to beneficiaries.