By Aduwo Ayodele
The University of Ibadan Students’ Union has on Tuesday, 7th November, 2023 awarded a sum of 1.5 million naira to seventy-one indigent students.
The bursary scheme disbursement event, following a two-phase selection process, was held at First Bank Building, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ibadan. It had in attendance the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academics, Professor Aderonke Mojisola Baiyeroju, and the Dean of Students, Professor I. A Abiona.
Welcoming beneficiaries of the scheme to the gathering, the University of Ibadan Students’ Union President, Samuel Samson Tobiloba noted that the initiative was birthed to promote higher qualitative education and provide support to indigent students in furtherance of their academic pursuit.
“The University of Ibadan Students’ Union is a union that is concerned about the welfare of the union members. We want the best for the members of the Union. We understand that a good number of students are struggling with paying their fees. As a responsible union, we saw the need to go out and reach out to people to get some level of support for students. That was basically what motivated us towards raising these funds for this bursary program” the Students’ Union President noted.
Mr. Samson Tobiloba noted that the seventy-one students beneficiaries are a result of the Union’s leadership commitment to ensuring that no student losses his or her studentship because of the economic constraints in the country.
“About 900 people initially applied for the bursary, out of which about 400 wrote the bursary selection examination. While we interviewed over 200 people and we were able to come down to 71 people who are getting the bursary. In essence, 71 people are getting the bursary and that is about 1.5million being distributed at different levels to different people” the President said.
“Obviously, everybody is affected, no one is immune to the challenges that we’re facing as a country, which is really affecting a lot of parent too. we’ve had to struggle all through the semester, but thank God, we’re getting over it and I’m sure that with continuous efforts and support that we’re getting, we’d ensure that no student have to dropout because they are unable to pay their fees” the Students’ Union President added.
In her address to the beneficiaries, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academics, University of Ibadan, Professor Aderonke Mojisola Baiyeroju commended the Students’ Union for devising the bursary scheme which would alleviate difficulty experienced by many financially disadvantaged students.
“We’re really pleased. The University management is very pleased with the Students’ Union Government because this initiative would help students to pay some of their fees. Usually it does not pay all, but it pays some of their fees, so that they can concentrate on their studies, work hard and graduate” Professor Baiyeroju said.
At the events, two students received full payment for their fees for topping the examination selection process, while the other sixty-nine beneficiaries would receive a sum of twenty thousand naira each to cushion and support their required fees.
In his overview, the Chairman of the UI’SU Bursary Committee 2023/2024 academic session, Adewale Alabi explained that the selection process was thorough, to meet targeted beneficiaries.
“We, of course, as the statistics had it, had over 939 applicants. And about close to 500 students of the University of Ibadan had the exam and we had a cut-off of 26 and above. So people below 26 were not liable for the interview, that made it 283 students. The first process of interview, for the first week, we had 26, but of course, we tried to look at the statistics of students who had 25 and we saw how wide it was, so we just considered the people with 26 and above and we ensured that thorough ethics were looked into. Ethics such as composure and of course we considered the grades of every students as well as, background checks and stories of reasons why they were unable to pay. We were not just ready to hear their stories and get emotional, we did our thorough background check to ensure that students who are beneficiaries of this bursary are actually the right set of individuals.”
