Sokoto Awards N3bn Scholarships in Two Years

The Sokoto State Government has awarded scholarships worth over N3 billion to its students from 2015 to date, the Executive Chairman of the state Scholarship Board, Hon Altine Shehu Kajiji has revealed.

A press statement issued in Sokoto showed that beneficiaries of the tuition fees and upkeep allowance include students studying in USA, United Kingdom, Cyprus, Turkey, Sudan, Antigua, Bangladesh, India, Uganda and Niger Republic.

It also includes payments to more than 10,000 Sokoto students in public and private schools across Nigeria.

“Most of the tuition fees payments are up to date especially for our students in Sudan and Niger Republic. Efforts have been intensified to make disbursements to students in places where we are not yet up to date in payments.

“As announced by Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal recently, arrangements are in place to send 200 students to India to study medicine and related fields.

“Let me state on record that the scholarship board is receiving all necessary support for the payment of tuition fees and allowances of our students despite the lean financial resources of the state.

“Beside this, the state is encouraging its indigenes to advance their studies in institutions of higher learning both within and outside the country especially in the fields of science and technology,” the statement added.

On Sokoto students at the Nigerian Law School, the chairman said 37 law graduates of Sokoto origin received upkeep allowances to cover the duration of their stay in law schools; in addition their tuition fees were paid in 2016. Each student was also given a laptop to help him in the course of his study. He said the same arrangement has been concluded for this year’s law graduates who just got admitted into law schools.

“The modest achievement so far recorded by the Tambuwal administration is a clear indication that the state of emergency declared in the sector is on the right track.

“We are therefore calling on all indigenes to rally round and support the state to enable it achieve the desired objectives of making education available and affordable to all Sokoto indigenes,” the statement said.