Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
A Non-Governmental Organization, OCI Foundation, has given scholarship to 22 junior and senior students in Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra state.
The scholarship which was established in memory of the late Obi Ifediora Isaac Okafor, father of the founder of the foundation, Dr. Chris Ifediora, commenced last year with 15 beneficiaries. This year’s edition having 12 students for senior and 10 students for junior categories.
The scholarship award which co-named Ifediomma Okafor Memorial Secretary School Academic Awards (IFOMSSA) comprises of senior and junior awards, grant financial incentives to students enrolled in state government-owned secondary schools located in Anambra East local government area of the state where the founder hails from due to the fact that the people of the area were academically less privileged compared to others in the state.
The Founder and President of the OCI Foundation Dr. Chris Ifediora while speaking at the 2018 scholarship award presentation ceremony at Fr. Joseph Memorial High School Aguleri said that senior award was for SSS3 students preparing for Senior School Certificate Examinations which covered the entire registration fees of the winners for both the WASSCE and the NECO while the junior award was for the JSS3 which also covered the receipents entire registration fees for the JSSCE.
He said that the winners were selected on merit through competitive annual processes, saying that the senior award winners were the best performing students among a group of 35 drawn from the ten eligible schools in the area which they underwent a one-off examination called the IFOSSA Challenge organized by the Post Primary School Service Commission (PPSSC) Otuocha zone.
Ifediora said that the award was only for the financial less privileged students, stressing that the foundation intend to widen the scope of the scholarship scheme to benefit all three local government areas in the Otuocha Educational Zone comprising Anambra East, Anambra West and Ayamelum, and also extend it to the entire state in the nearest future.
According to him, “our aim of implementing gases awards is to motivate our young ones and spur students from the Omambala area towards the attainment of greater academic successes. The real winners of the awards were not the students but the hundreds and thousands who by the mere existence of these awards are now inspired to work harder, to believe in themselves and who are ultimately motivated and develop their minds and dream positively beyond the immediate economic and academic limitations they face”.
The founder also noted that the foundation offers an undergraduate scholarship called the Cyfed Scholarship who receive annual financial awards throughout the duration of their chosen courses in any tertiary institution of their choice in Nigeri, adding that four students won the award in 201.
“We are proud to say that the OCI Foundation supports the winners of all the three of our scholarship schemes (Junior IFOMSSA, Senior IFOMSSA and the Cyfed Scholarships) nit just financially, but through well-designed packages aimed at developing and moulding their characters and attitudes into ways that will make them contribute holistically to positive nation building. For this reason, scholarship renewals for the Cyfed Scholars are tied to both academic and character performance. As such, proven cases of involvements in cultism, examination malpractices or any other social vices, automatically disqualifies the recipient from further renewals”.
“The OCI foundation has come to stay. Besides educational scholarships, we also sponsor annual health promotion events, the first of which involved 432 female SSS3 female students across the 26 schools in the entire Otuocha Educational Zone in September 2017. We are also developing an Empowerment scheme, aimed at supporting talents but uneducated youths in our society. This group of people, who are not in formal educational programs, still have something to contribute to our society. We, the OCI foundation, promise to find them. We promise to empower them. And we promise to lift them, just as we are lifting their educated peers” Ifediora stated.
In her remarks, the Chairman, Post Primary School Service Commission (PPSSC) Mrs. Joy Ulasi commended the foundation for the scholarship and for lifting the educational system of the state through the scholarship awards to the students, calling on other good spirited individuals to emulate the gesture by assisting the less privileged in the society to go school.
She that education is the key to any thing one does in the society and should be given priority, saying that the state government has sustain and maintained its lead in academic excellence in the country.
Ulasi however urged the students to reciprocate the gesture of the wards by working hard to make the state and the facilitator of the award proud, adding that the award went to the non-indigenes residing in the area which according to her shows that the people of the state doesn’t discriminate.
The Traditional Ruler of Nsugbe, Igwe Victor Ntuoka and Traditional ruler of Nando Igwe Alex Edoziemuno in their separate remarks, thanked the founder of the scholarship award who is an Australia based man for impacting on the youths who is the leaders of tomorrow, saying that he was not only rich man in the area but due to his quest for helping and uplifting the downtrodden in the area.
They however appealed to the founder of the award to extend it to every communities in the area in order to carry everybody along in the award.
To the recipients, the monarch said: “Ifediora has done us proud by providing you with the scholarship wards. It is you that will make yourself what you are, we can only provide the enabling environment. You should study hard and come out with flying colours. There is no job for dull students but for the brilliant students there is always job for them. Those of that wins this year should not go home and relax because it is a challenge for you to continue to excel”.
Some of the recipients Vivian Odeh ( Community High School, Nsugbe), Okoye Cyprian (Community Secondary Umuoba-Anam), Chidimma Amua (Stella Marist College Umueri) thanked the OCI foundation for the opportunity to pursue their academics endeavours and promised to make the foundation and their parents proud by graduating with excellent results.
Other students Emmanuel Ifeadi Augustine Mgbataogu, Chinenye Nwaji also commended the founder of the scholarship award who they said has wiped their tears away by given them the award to continue their education carriers.
Some of their parents who accompanied them to the award ceremony expressed their happiness for putting smiles on their faces by lifting their burden through the scholarship award and prayed God to continue to guide, protect and provide for the founder of OCI foundation.
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