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From Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
The Omenife N’ Oduma Charity Foundation has given scholarships to 60 indigent students from different schools in Oduma community in Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State.
The beneficiaries of the maiden scholarship award were drawn from students in SS3 in eight secondary schools in the area, who got N60,000 each, totaling N3.6m for their WAEC and NECO registration for the 2023/2024 academic session.
Chairman/chief executive officer of the foundation, Chief Lawrence Ikechukwu Ani, during the presentation of cheques to the beneficiaries at the Community Primary School, Oduma Achara, said the scholarship would be an annual ceremony, born out of his quest to help the poor and underprivileged and to give back to the community that defined him and gave him his identity.
“The foundation is born out of my passion to help the poor and less privileged ones in society. It is not that I have much to give but because I appreciate God’s continuous grace upon my life. Helping the needy has been my earnest prayer to God Almighty to provide me with the resources that I will use to actualize my dreams for society.
“Omenife N’ Oduma Charity Foundation is poised to embark on human resource development, and youth educational empowerment by providing financial assistance to the underprivileged, creating platforms that will make the youths great entrepreneurs and provision of scholarships to hardworking and indigent indigenes of Oduma, with a view to helping the youth become useful to themselves and the society at large.
“It is my wish that our yearly scholarship and empowerment will increase steadily by God’s grace. We will extend it to other villages and communities around this area but you know that charity begins at home. They were selected from the 19 villages made up of Oduma, the indigent students, who don’t have money to further their education.
“What motivated me to embark on this scholarship was that my late father was a teacher and a counselor but hadn’t enough money to train his children to higher education. So, I could not go further because of money and I see it as an opportunity to help those children, who want to further their education but have no money” Ani stated.
The Enugu State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Uchenna Eze, who presented the symbolic cheque to the students urged them to shun examination malpractice and urged them to read their books and be focused, and come out with flying colours.
He commended Chief Ani for the scholarship to the school children, saying that there is no investment and legacy that surpasses that of human capital development, which he said Chief Ani has brought to his community, adding that generations to come will remember the indelible mark.
“Education is something that can lift somebody from nothing to something big in society. You can build castles and mansions but nobody remembers you when you die, but it’s your legacies and those you touched their lives that will remember you tomorrow when you die.”
Enugu state government values education that’s why we support every activities and policy that encourages education in the state. As the commissioner, I will make sure that the N60,000 for the scholarship will be used to pay for both WAEC and NECO exams and still remains. It is challenging for students to prepare for the task ahead to come out with good grades without indulging in exam malpractice” Prof Eze stated.
Also in their remarks, the Commissioner for Rural Development, Dr. Kingsley Udeh, and the Commissioner for Labour and Productivity, Uche Ogbonna commended Chief Ani for lifting the less privileged students in his community, who could be the president, governors, legislators, commissioners, lawyers, engineers in the future.
In their remarks, the Chairman of Aninri Local Government Area, Chief Benneth Aja, and President General of Oduma Achara Community, Mr. Pius Ani commended Chief Ani for his gesture, saying the community has been backward over the years but God has raised men like him to redeem the area in various ways.
Aja said that plans were underway to send students from the area to oversea scholarship in US, UK, Canada, and Australia to develop human capital.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Planning Committee, Comrade Martins Anayochukwu Oli said that the scholarship was one of his philanthropic gestures to give succour to the needy and less privileged students in the community, which would be annually.
