to Lagos State natives studying in various tertiary institutions across the country,


Lagos doles out N167m for bursary
By OLUWOLE FAROTIMI
Thursday, April 14, 2011

Photo: Sun News Publishing
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Lagos State Governor , Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola has released the sum of N167 million to the State scholarship board for payment of bursary awards to Lagos State natives studying in various tertiary institutions across the country, in a bid to enhance educational development in the state.

The Secretary, Lagos State Scholarship Board, Mrs. Yetunde Jegede, who disclosed this to journalists said the funds were meant to service the third payment of 2006/07 and second payment of 2007/2008 sets of bursary award beneficiaries.

She explained that the clearance exercise which was the basic requirement for payment of the concerned students commenced on Monday April 11, 2011 and it would last for four months, imploring the awardees to visit the board for the clearance exercise with the required documents.

“ Such documents required include School Identity Card, Clearance from Bursar or Receipt of Payment of tuition fees from Lagos State University Students only, Letter from Head of Department, Two passport photographs, Intercontinental Bank ATM card collected during last payment of 2006/07 set, Academic Result all other documents that were not submitted before.

The 2006/07 are expected on Mondays and Tuesdays while clearance for 2007/08 set also comes up on Wednesdays and Thursdays,” she added. In another development, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Mrs. Oluranti Odutola urged Information officers to acquire and develop critical competencies that would enhance their productivity and role as professionals.

Odutola said the civil servants operate in an information technology age where information is only a button away, noting that Information Communication Technology has turned the world into a Global Village where information is transferred and received in a jiffy. She explained that with current on-going transformation embarked upon by the state government, government officials must be familiar with the modern tools in Information technology so as to meet the state mega city status.


http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/apr/14/national-14-04-2011-005.htm

Misplaced priority really

Another avenue to steal our money


hmmmm

fstranger3:

Misplaced priority really

Another avenue to steal our money


hmmmm

wtf?

Educational scholarship = bad idea? Why? What would you spend the money on instead?

So the students are stealing your money right?

Btw, is investing in your own kids and leaders of tomorrow's education is misplaced priority?

What is the right priority?

If the money is not stolen, the natives return home to Lagos, and the money is not used to send them abroad, I don't think anyone can complain.

I'd sort of prefer to see it done as a LOAN (rather than scholarship) scheme though, where the students pay back over the course of 10 years once they graduate and get jobs.

That way, it is self-renewing.

fstranger3:

Misplaced priority really

Another avenue to steal our money


hmmmm

hahahha when i call you a dummy your fellow yoruabas will think am insulting all yoruba people , now they have confirmed how silly you are.states like ,bayelsa,delta,imo,abia,edo and  rivers have been doing the same time for a long time now

bashr4:

hahahha when i call you a dummy your fellow yoruabas will think am insulting all yoruba people , now they have confirmed how silly you are.states like ,bayelsa,delta,imo,abia,edo and  rivers have been doing the same time for a long time now

Nah, let's give him a chance to respond and see what he thinks should be higher on the priority list.

If this is a scholarship that sends them abroad in which they never return back to Lagos State, then yes, probably not a good idea.

Really, the devil is in the details. Cannot say it is good or bad until we know exactly how it is structured.

ekt_bear:

wtf?

Educational scholarship = bad idea?  Why? What would you spend the money on instead?

I would rather spend the money on upgrading the existing facilities at LASU, LASPOTECH, and other state-owned institutions in the state. The facilities on ground at Laspotech and LASU are beyond appalling. LASU and other universities just came back from a year long strike over mundane issues ranging from salary to retirement benefits. The students are already enrolled, and have most likely paid their tuition prior to enrollment. Why not spend the money on something more meaningful and beneficial, like improving and making the environment professors and students operate under more conducive. The money, if spent on addressing issues raised by striking lecturers and other auxiliary staff, could go a long way at  forestalling the next strike at these institutions, which, sadly, is just around the corner.


How many Lagos State indigenes are enrolled in higher institutions in Nigeria?
Do we even have a list here?

Can they publish the list of the beneficiaries, how much each person got, and what methodology they employed to arrive at how much to be awarded each student? And, what they expect the money to be used for?

Eko Ile:

So the students are stealing your money right?

Btw, is investing in your own kids and leaders of tomorrow's education is misplaced priority?

What is the right priority?

Nah, I was talking about the people in charge of the money; from Fashola down to whoever is the commissioner for education in Lagos State.

The priority ought to be to raise the standard of education from its dilapidated state. Doling out awoof money to ghost students in Nasarawa would not address the issue of quality that is now the bane of our tertiary institutions.

You raise some good points. It isn't cut and dried. . . no real way of knowing what the right answer is until we know the details.

fstranger3:

Nah, I was talking about the people in charge of the money; from Fashola down to whoever is the commissioner for education in Lagos State.

The priority ought to be to raise the standard of education from its dilapidated state. Doling out awoof money to ghost students in Nasarawa would not address the issue of quality that is now the bane of our tertiary institutions.

The fact is, these students are in dire need of any form of assistance. I many countries, students have job to help them with school, but in Nigeria, the parents themselves don't have jobs, talk less the kids.

We can't keep denying our kids needed assistance just because of some know, perceived fears of corruption and ghost . Investing on our kids education is not limited to building schools, catering to their needs as students remains an integral part of the system of education. Riding okada to school and paying for text books, hand outs and other supplies cost money.

fstranger3:

Nah, I was talking about the people in charge of the money; from Fashola down to whoever is the commissioner for education in Lagos State.

The priority ought to be to raise the standard of education from its dilapidated state. Doling out awoof money to ghost students in Nasarawa would not address the issue of quality that is now the bane of our tertiary institutions.

Forget what you said, these students are real and not ghost students. You'd be suprised how many of them would drop out of school without such aid. Infact compared to many states, what lagos gives is just stipends

I'm not against this one though I feel they can do better for Lagos students, How about making admission to Unilag easy for Lagosians instead of collecting money from people who don't even know where not to go in Lagos to come and have a bad experience in the state?

Now before you attack my idea on the grounds that deserving students should study in any university blah blah blah bluh blah, There is nothing like deserving student ever coming to Lagos to study a program that is better taught in OAU or NSUKA or ABU, Seriously, the student just wants big city life, Your University of choice should be restricted to your best choice for the program you'll love to study,

Yes UNILAG is a federal university but think about it, it is built to promote education in Lagos for Lagosians and for the academic benefit of Nigeria which Lagos is a part of. Every state has one. so i see no seriousness in an aspiring Engineering student who ignores unilorin and Nsuka to come to Lagos, I also see no seriousness in a student who ignores ABU to come and study medicine in UNILAG,

Lagosians studying in other parts of Nigeria are probably choosing best choices for their program leaving behind big city life for academic benefits and those choosing Lagos for academic reason also deserves kudos too, UNILAG/LASU for residents of Lagos first seriously,

Eko Ile:


The fact is, these students are in dire need of any form of assistance.

Which students are we talking about?  And, how many of them are in dire need of this benevolent assistance from the state government. The truth remains that most beneficiaries of this awoof money dont really need it. It is the same few people that get the money year in-year out. Most students dont even know about this scheme. The ones in the know are the kids of the well connected. Very few indigent students know about this, and those student who are in dire need of this 'largess' only make up a paltry (probably less than 5%)  of the beneficiaries. On effect alone, it is a bad idea.

We can't keep denying our kids needed assistance just because of some know, perceived fears of corruption and ghost . Investing on our kids education is not limited to building schools, catering to their needs as students remains an integral part of the system of education. Riding okada to school and paying for text books, hand outs and other supplies cost money.

I dont know what your point really is, but with the bolded , it seems that your are in agreement with my point that giving the money to the students is a misplaced priority.

Handouts arent legitimate knowledge impacting tools.  No one else does that! Lecturers sell handouts primarily to raise fund. Fact! Instead of giving the students money to buy the handouts, why not give the lecturers the money directly in the form of better and improved salary package. By so doing, you a killing two birds with a stone; First, there wont be need for these lecturers to raise more money from handouts ( less than 50% of the students buy the handouts and 99% of the handouts are useless anyway), availing them more time to fulfill their primary responsibility, which is to actually prepare and teach the students under their tutelage. Also, you'd also be achieving your aim, alleviating the plight of the indigent students in this institutions since there wont be need to buy the useless handouts in the first place.

Regarding textbooks: Isnt it a better idea to say, instead of giving the students money to buy the text book, stock the libraries with the most uptodate textbook and journals. Engineering for instance, lets assume a lecturer assigned Theraja as the recommended textbook. One single Theraja costs N5000 or thereabout. If you give the students N4000 each, they still wont be able to buy the textbook, and even if they were able to buy the Theraja, what about their other classes? Why not instead spend the money to stock the Library with enough Therajas and give it out to the students at the beginning of each semester, and then take it back at the end. If you did this for ten years, on text books alone, assuming thats the singular focus for the gesture, you'd be saving the state government and the tax payers at least 50% of the money that otherwise would have been used to achieve the same thing if the money had been doled out to the students directly.

By providing access to good textbooks and journals, you could achieve two more things; improving text scores via improved understanding of the material which would inevitably lead to improved standard in these institutions. Emphasis here is on access to the best journals from around the world.

On the issue of riding okadas to school: this is very laughable indeed. And I am sure you know, as much as I do, that this is a moot point. How students get to work/school is none of Fashola's business. His primary duty in that regards is to avail the citizenry ( all of them, which automatically include the students) with decent medium of transportation which he seems to be doing quite fine already with BRT, etc!

fstranger3:

Which students are we talking about?  And, how many of them are in dire need of this benevolent assistance from the state government. The truth remains that most beneficiaries of this awoof money dont really need it. It is the same few people that get the money year in-year out. Most students dont even know about this scheme. The ones in the know are the kids of the well connected. Very few indigent students know about this, and those student who are in dire need of this 'largess' only make up a paltry (probably less than 5%)  of the beneficiaries. On effect alone, it is a bad idea.



I dont know what your point really is, but with the bolded , it seems that your are in agreement with my point that giving the money to the students is a misplaced priority.

Handouts arent legitimate knowledge impacting tools.  No one else does that! Lecturers sell handouts primarily to raise fund. Fact! Instead of giving the students money to buy the handouts, why not give the lecturers the money directly in the form of better and improved salary package. By so doing, you a killing two birds with a stone; First, there wont be need for these lecturers to raise more money from handouts ( less than 50% of the students buy the handouts and 99% of the handouts are useless anyway), availing them more time to fulfill their primary responsibility, which is to actually prepare and teach the students under their tutelage. Also, you'd also be achieving your aim, alleviating the plight of the indigent students in this institutions since there wont be need to buy the useless handouts in the first place.

Regarding textbooks: Isnt it a better idea to say, instead of giving the students money to buy the text book, stock the libraries with the most uptodate textbook and journals. Engineering for instance, lets assume a lecturer assigned Theraja as the recommended textbook. One single Theraja costs N5000 or thereabout. If you give the students N4000 each, they still wont be able to buy the textbook, and even if they were able to buy the Theraja, what about their other classes? Why not instead spend the money to stock the Library with enough Therajas and give it out to the students at the beginning of each semester, and then take it back at the end. If you did this for ten years, on text books alone, assuming thats the singular focus for the gesture, you'd be saving the state government and the tax payers at least 50% of the money that otherwise would have been used to achieve the same thing if the money had been doled out to the students directly.

By providing access to good textbooks and journals, you could achieve two more things; improving text scores via improved understanding of the material which would inevitably lead to improved standard in these institutions. Emphasis here is on access to the best journals from around the world.

On the issue of riding okadas to school: this is very laughable indeed. And I am sure you know, as much as I do, that this is a moot point. How students get to work/school is none of Fashola's business. His primary duty in that regards is to avail the citizenry ( all of them, which automatically include the students) with decent medium of transportation which he seems to be doing quite fine already with BRT, etc!

Again, education is not limited to the issues you raised and we can sit here till eternity going back and forth debating the merits and demerits of the state's actions, the fact remains that helping our students to get by while they are in school is an integral part of their education and the state is in line to benefits from their success as students and graduates.

You can not fix decades of rot and neglect in less than 4 years and you can not tell me the state is not spending money on all the issues you raised.

^^^^

Yes they are or why would Lasu teachers go on strike for more than a year!

fstranger3:

^^^^

Yes they are or why would Lasu teachers go on strike for more than a year!

Apples and oranges my friend,

i am confused here,the lagos state bursary minimum amount is 20,000 naira and u do to get it is apply as a student and u get there is no bias all u do is prove u are a logsian and a student u dont need connection

What about all those other citizens of Lagos? I mean all those other kids born and raised in Lagos whose parents work and pay taxes and own real estate in Lagos? Is there not a clause in our constitution that proscribes discrimination based on state of origin? Someone tell me, if the less than 5 percent of "natives" of Lagos are say white people and the rest black, would not the entire black race and the UN and everyone else be complaining of the most insidious form of racial discrimination?

ikenga67: What about all those other citizens of Lagos? I mean all those other kids born and raised in Lagos whose parents work and pay taxes and own real estate in Lagos? Is there not a clause in our constitution that proscribes discrimination based on state of origin? Someone tell me, if the less than 5 percent of "natives" of Lagos are say white people and the rest black, would not the entire black race and the UN and everyone else be complaining of the most insidious form of racial discrimination?

All other states use state of origin... So why should Lagos' case be different??

Garri the 1st:

All other states use state of origin... So why should Lagos' case be different??

Are you saying it is ok to make a mockery of the constitution and our claim to being a nation if everyone else is doing it?

Irshittabey: i am confused here,the lagos state bursary minimum amount is 20,000 naira and u do to get it is apply as a student and u get there is no bias all u do is prove u are a logsian and a student u dont need connection

I thought lagosians were supposed to be all the residents?

wtf is a lagos indigine?
i would imagine the people that can call lagos their father's village can't be more than 1% of the population, or is it anyone born in Lagos, because many children are born in lagos because of the facilities and immediately moved to other states where they reside

as long as u can get certificate of indiginship there is no big deal.many people who are lagosians ,residents and sharp smart non residents can get the scholarship ,just get ur certificate.i cant remember anytime when lagos was marginalizing anybody

Ikengawo: wtf is a lagos indigine?
i would imagine the people that can call lagos their father's village can't be more than 1% of the population, or is it anyone born in Lagos, because many children are born in lagos because of the facilities and immediately moved to other states where they reside

These are people who are direct blood of ancestral families of Lagos, both native and adopted.