Kunle Adelabu
The presentation of cheques to successful candidates of the first edition of the Ikorodu Division Peace Initiatives Limited/ GTE (IDPIL/GTE) Scholarship and Bursary Schemes will hold on Saturday, September 3, 2022.
While 112 applicants attended screening for the Bursary I interview last Wednesday, 48 applicants were screened for the Bursary II scholarship on Thursday, while 55 applicants sat for the Scholarship examination and interview that took place last week Friday.
Otunba Ganiyu Olusegun Abiru, Executive Secretary, IDPIL/GTE, in an interview with THE IMPACT, informed that the presentation of cheques will take place at the Adeboruwa palace in Igbogbo.
The former Chairman, Ikorodu – Oga Development Association (IKODASS) and retired Clerk/Permanent Secretary, Lagos State House of Assembly, also said that activities of the body will be rotated across the Ikorodu Division and would not be concentrated in Ikorodu township.
“By the grace of God, we are planning to release cheques to successful applicants on September 3rd, 2023, at the palace of Adeboruwa in Igbogbo. That is why we are doing everything possible to ensure we do all the processing and complete the tasks for the presentation of the cheques come September”, he said
“I just want to use this medium to say that we represent the entire division and we will be operating in every part of the division. We have been doing so many things in the palace of Ayangbure of Ikorodu and that is why we are now moving to the palace of Adeboruwa of Igbogbo next.
“We are likely to move to Egbin or Imota, the next time so as to give sense of belonging to everybody in Ikorodu Division. By doing this, it will not look as if it is an Ikorodu thing, rather, it’s a divisional initiative. That is why we are moving our operations and activities from one part to the other and I must also say here that we are happy with the responses of the kabiyesis in the division for the moral support that they have been given us”, he further stated.
Speaking further on the schemes, Otunba Abiru said that responses for the applications were encouraging despite the challenges posed by the ASUU strike which prevented many students from fulfilling the application requirements and their inability to enter for the schemes.
He added that the IDPIL is expecting to receive more applications in the next year’s edition.
“Yes, the constraints that we have with the prevailing ASUU strike has affected the numbers of people that would have ordinarily applied for the schemes, because most Universities are on strike except for the few ones that are able to get the documents that we demanded from them. This made us unable to attend to those that are unable to get necessary documents because they are condition that must be met before we consider them for the scholarship”, he said.
Otunba Ganiyu Abiru and other members of the screening panel duringthe screening of aspirants for the IDPIL/GTE Scholarship.
“We expected 254 students to benefit from the scheme and we had about 400 applications and I think to my estimation and basing it on the prevailing circumstances, I think that we have had good numbers.
“I am sure that by next year when all the Universities would be in session, we would have a lot of candidates that would be applying”, he added.
“This is the first edition and as we move on, there would be improvement. We have done our best and we hope that people will look into what we have done and do critique so that we can improve on them. We are human beings and not expected to do everything to perfection, we might have done one or two things that might not satisfy the yearnings of the people.
“It is a learning process and a continuous exercise and I can assure the people of Ikorodu that we would always take into consideration what are best for them and what is best for the state and Nigeria. I pray that ASUU will in no time call off the strike so that we can begin to plan for the scheme”, he assured.
While the organization is looking into instituting another educational support scheme for secondary schools, Otunba Abiru also added that IDPIL/GTE’s modus operandi extended beyond security that it started with.
“IDPIL is a multi – dimensional organization, we are not only focusing on security, but most people think that our only focus is security, No! We are addressing all areas of needs; we are just like an interventionist body. We are going to look into security, education, environment and all other areas that we can accelerate development in lkorodu Division, and what we have done so far is just a tip of the iceberg. A lot of things are still coming from IDPIL”, Otunba Abiru said.
“Yes, ordinarily we are likely to improve on it. We are not going to restrict ourselves to only tertiary institutions. We are also going into secondary schools to see how we can assist them. A lot of parents are under financial stress and the only assistance that we can give as interventionists, is to assist them financially like we are doing for the students in tertiary institutions”, the retired Bureaucrat added.
“The N50, 000 (fifty thousand naira), N100, 000 (one hundred thousand naira) and N200, 000 (two hundred thousand naira), (which different categories of Bursary and Scholarship applicants are getting) are not small money to give as assistance. We are thinking that by the grace of God, maybe next year, we may have to improve. But we are also considering intervention for secondary schools too so that we can also do things for them”, he emphasized.
“At the moment, we are developing a school at Igbodu and by the time we finish, it is going to be one of the best schools in Africa. It’s going to be a comprehensive school. The construction is ongoing and by the grace of God, we will finish in good time”.
He thanked executive members and other staff of the body for the successful screening exercise.
“I want to particularly congratulate members of executives and all other members in the IDPIL who have been of tremendous support in this exercise we just completed. We have finished the interviews and done the aptitude test for the scholarship side. We would now sit back and see what we can do and take our final decision on the successful candidates”, Otunba Abiru said.
