Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos has approved an increment of 100 per cent on bursary payable to students of Lagos State origin in tertiary institutions across the country.

The Executive Secretary, Lagos State Scholarship Board, Mr. Abdur Rahaman Lekki, said in a statement on Sunday that the increment would take effect from 2022/ 2023 academic session.

Lekki said that he had already informed representatives of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Lagos State chapter, and the National Union of Lagos State Students (NULASS) at a meeting at Alausa, Ikeja.

He said that the 100 per cent bursary increment and other benefits were aimed at supporting the educational needs of students of Lagos State origin, to let them cope with the present economic reality.

Lekki also disclosed that the government at the just-concluded State Economic Summit known as “Ehingbeti Summit” had approved the resolutions on the establishment of Lagos Diaspora Scholarship Fund.

According to him, the scholarship fund is aimed at providing scholarship and bursary benefits generally to all Lagos State resident students in tertiary institutions, in any part of the country, to support their education.

He appealed to the students over a little delay in the payment of the remaining 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 bursary/ scholarship benefits.

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The board secretary said that the delay was necessitated by the ongoing data-cleansing/verification exercise across all institutions by the state government,

“The ongoing data-cleansing/verification exercise is to ensure that only qualified students of Lagos State origin benefited from the scheme,” he said.

Lekki that the Lagos State scholarship board through the ongoing verification and data cleansing exercise discovered a fraudulent act, which was at the expense of the original students of the state that the scheme was meant for.

He said that it was discovered that some people who either were no more students or not even students of any higher institution were benefiting from the scheme.

The board secretary assured that prompt payment of both bursary and scholarship benefits for the outstanding years would begin immediately after the ongoing exercise was completed.

According to him, for the avoidance of doubt, effective from Monday, October 17, students of the Lagos State College of Heath Technology (LASCOHET) will get their outstanding payments for the 2020/2021 academic year.

Lekki also said that the Board had scheduled assessment tests for fresh beneficiaries for the year 2022/2023 scholarship benefit for October 29, as necessary details had been sent to qualified applicants.

While allaying the students’ fear that the state government was planning to stop the scheme, he said that there was no basis to stop it since there was provision for it in the state budget.

According to him, the 2023 budget of the state government has captured the new increment and other benefits to make life more bearable for students in their studies.

The Star