The Tony Elumelu Foundation has announced that it will offer annual prizes in perpetuity to top-performing graduating students at several universities across Nigeria.

TEF, which is a not-for-profit institution committed to the economic transformation of Africa by enhancing the competitiveness and growth of the African private sector, said in a statement on Thursday that the annual prizes would be for top undergraduate and graduate (where relevant) students at the various universities in Economics, Business Administration and Medicine.
An annual professional prize will also be provided through the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria to encourage excellence in the banking profession.
The beneficiary institutions are Ambrose Alli University, Edo State; Delta State University; University of Jos, Plateau State; University of Lagos; University of Benin, Edo State; Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto State; University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State; University of Maiduguri, Borno State; University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State; and Benue State University.

“The annual prizes will recognise and honour top-performing students at these select Nigerian universities who are completing degrees related to the academic and career paths of Mr. Tony O. Elumelu, MFR, founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation, and his wife, Dr. Awele V. Elumelu, CEO of Avon Medical Services Ltd. and fellow Trustee of The Tony Elumelu Foundation,” the statement said.

Elumelu is currently the chairman of Heirs Holdings, an African proprietary investment firm, as well as Transnational Corporation of Nigeria and Tenoil Petroleum & Energy Services.
Previously, he was Group CEO of United Bank for Africa, a position he held for over 13 years after a successful merger of UBA and Standard Trust Bank.

“These prizes reflect the appreciation that my wife and I have for our own university education in Nigeria and our confidence in the quality of the education provided by these great institutions.

“By supporting promising students, I believe that we
are fulfilling one of the mandates of The Tony Elumelu Foundation, which is to promote and celebrate excellence in business leadership and entrepreneurship across Africa,” Elumelu said.

Three outstanding University of Jos students received prizes during the school’s convocation ceremony on May 12, 2012, the statement said. The students are 22-year-old Obianuju Ifeoma Okpara, an Economics undergraduate student who finished top of her class; Joel Nanbal Zuhumben, 31, best postgraduate student in Economics; and Francis Ifeanyi Ayomogh, top undergraduate medical student.

As part of the prize programme, TEF has also established a new annual professional prize to be awarded to the best student in the ‘Practice of Banking’ subject in the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria professional examinations.

This year’s prize went to Mrs. Bolawa Funlola Adenuga, a banker who had the highest score in her first and only sitting of the examination, during CIBN’s awards ceremony which held on July 7, 2012 in Lagos.

Subsequent to receiving the prizes, each student will be invited to join a lifelong network of beneficiaries of The Tony Elumelu Foundation as they successfully enter the workforce and progress to becoming prominent leaders and entrepreneurs, it added.

http://www.punchng.com/news/tony-elumelu-foundation-announces-prizes-for-exceptional-nigerian-undergraduates/