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611 pupils, students get scholarships from BBBF in Kwara
Ayo Ola
Bayo and Bunmi Babalola Foundation (BBBF), a charity organization, on Thursday gave scholarships to no fewer than 611 pupils and students from Kwara State during the 9th edition of the scholarship awards ceremony.
The co-founder and co-sponsor of the Non Governmental Organisation, Engineer Pastor Sunday Adebayo Babalola said that 407 pupils from secondary schools and 204 students from tertiary institutions benefited from the scholarship awards.
He spoke during the 9th edition of BBBF scholarship award ceremony in Omu-Aran, Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.
The philanthropist called on government at all levels to invest more in education as he noted that education is the bedrock of societal development.
The Co-founder and Co-sponsor of the charity organization opined that no investment in education is ever lost, adding that education is the bedrock of societal growth, innovations and technological breakthroughs
He said he and his wife, Pastor Bunmi Babalola, who is a co-founder and co-sponsor of the NGO, have continued to invest in human capital development and infrastructure provision regardless of the harsh national economic as their own contribution to societal growth as a way of giving back to the community/
He also commended his wife for her great contributions and investments in the scheme. He further thanked the organizing committee members for their efforts to the successful of the scheme.
Babalola in his address thanked God for giving them the enablement to continue to sponsor the scholarship awards.
He charged the recipients of the scholarship to maximize the opportunity by being God-fearing, studious and hard working as well as being good ambassadors of the scheme, their families, their state and Nigeria at large.
Below is his speech:
It is with profound gratitude to our father, the Almighty God, that I welcome you all to this scholarship award ceremony.
We return all praise and glory to God, the Almighty, who has been very kind to us. Considering the current harsh economic and security situations in Nigeria, we remain grateful to God Who has protected and preserved us. Many things have happened in our country from the last edition of this scholarship award ceremony till today, but we are still alive and healthy. It is not by our merit but by His mercies. We give Him all the praise and adoration.
For us who are still alive, let us always appreciate our Maker and Sustainer, God, for keeping us alive. Let us reciprocate His kind gestures to us by being or remaining good instruments in His hands.
We are grateful to all the people who have been organizing the scholarship events from the inception to date and those who joined recently. We value you highly as your contributions for the progress of this programs are great and unquantifiable. Your organizational skills are fantastic. You have played commendable roles in the successes recorded by BBBF. May God continue to bless and reward you all. You are all as important as the founders and funders of BBBF and the scholarship scheme as we could not have reached this height without your valuable inputs.
We also thank all our revered traditional rulers and all other people who are present during this edition.
It is crystal clear that things are hard in the country. So it was not out of abundance that my wife and I invested this huge amount for this year’s scholarship scheme. We had to deny ourselves some comfort for the progress of our young people. In view of the global and national economic meltdown, only the great provider, the most benevolent God could have provided for us and sustained this project.
We are immensely grateful to God, the great Provider, for counting us worthy of continuing to sponsor this laudable project.
My wife, (Bunmi) and I initiated BBBF and have continued to sole sponsor this worthy project to the praise and glory of God and for the good of humanity.
My wife and I are encouraged to continue to stretch ourselves to sustain this scheme by the numerous testimonies and gratitude we receive from the beneficiaries and their families.
We have information of many of the past beneficiaries who have not only graduated but have gotten employment while some of them are already employers of labour. Also, many beneficiaries in the category of secondary schools have been admitted into different tertiary institutions and are studying courses of their choice. It is even more encouraging that many of the past beneficiaries, who we could not even recognize, run into us in town, airports, garages and other public places, introduce themselves as past beneficiaries of BBBF’ scholarship scheme and express gratitude for the kind gesture. Indeed, we are humbled and very excited about this human capital development, advancement in knowledge, employment and job creations.
Regardless of the global and national economic challenges, we will, as the Lord continues to enable us, sustain this scholarship scheme and other of our philanthropic outreaches as we are inspired by the biblical injunction in Luke 12:48: “To whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.” Our provision and resources are not a function of our human wisdom, undertakings and acumen but by the special grace of the Great Provider, the Almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of creation.
To show gratitude to God who is the anchor of this project, we urge all the beneficiaries, the current and the past, to remain God fearing, and diligent in their noble preoccupations. For those who are working, display excellence in your jobs. For those who have become employers of labour, ensure that you treat your employees fairly and in reverence to the Lord. We pray that God will continue to give you insights and access to His secrets of ideas that will help you bring up new innovations, technologies, and better service delivery in your different fields of endeavours. The world is waiting for you to manifest the glory of God and the revelation of the hidden treasures of God.
We admonish all the beneficiaries to continue being good ambassadors of this foundation, their families, communities, local governments, Kwara State, and Nigeria. You must remain diligent, and studious. You must not get involved in fraud, Yahoo-Yahoo, cultism, prostitution and other societal vices, which will ultimately destroy the perpetrators.
State and national issues:
May I use this opportunity to reiterate my call on the federal and Kwara State Governments to invest more in education. No investment in education is ever lost. Education is the bedrock of societal growth, innovations and technological breakthroughs. There can be no meaningful societal development without quality, efficient, accessible and affordable education. Education can be one of the strategies to address insecurity, kidnapping, cultism, armed robbery and other violent crimes. An educated mind is refined and totally different from an illiterate. With education, the world will become a better place to live in.
Education without good infrastructure will be ineffective. It saddens my heart to recall how many pupils are taught under trees and dilapidated classrooms. Some of the pupils and their teachers are wet during learning when it rains and are drained through leaking roofs. What kind of citizens, produced under such an inhuman and inhumane environment, would they be? Allowing our children and their teachers to be in such horrible environment is not only exposing them to medical danger but also to mental torture. We should invest more to upgrade the classrooms and the entire educational environment.
It is also imperative to ensure good and timely remuneration for the teachers, more so, in this economic crunch. A well motivated staff will produce better result.
I also call on the government and concerned stakeholders to improve security around educational institutions to avoid the pupils and students from being endangered by kidnappers, armed robbers, rapists and perpetrators of other violent crimes.
The recent renewed commitment by the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) to address insecurity challenge in the region is commendable.
Insecurity has impacted negatively on livelihoods of millions of people in the country and in particular, in the northern region.
Modern technologies and new inventions in security management should be invigorated alongside non-kinetic approaches.
The recent directive by the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, that candidates below 18 years should not sit for the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) and the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE) is inappropriate.
The directive is not in tandem with this modern and technologically driven jet age. It is capable of stalling the academic advancement of gifted children, even stagnating the development of fast learners and robbing the nation and the world of the benefits of such fast brains.
I call on the federal government to have a rethink on such a directive and allow academically gifted and mentally advanced children, regardless of their biological age, to pursue their educational ambitions.
It is also disturbing recent information by UNICEF that Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world, with about 18.4 million.
Such unenviable retrogression is very mind blogging. It is more worrisome when viewed against the backdrop of billions of naira said to have been spent by the federal and state governments on education and more specifically on school feeding programmes of the FG.
The Federal Government under the former President, Muhammadu Buhari, reportedly spent multi-billions of naira on the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP).
The then National Coordinator, National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), which was run by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (MHADMSD), Dr Umar Bindir, had in April 2022, during a two-day stakeholders’ consultative workshop on the development of a national policy for NHGSFP in Abuja, said the Federal Government was spending about N12 billion monthly on the NHGSFP.
President Bola Tinubu, while assenting to the 2024 budget, said that there is N100 billion allocation for the school feeding programmes.
According to him, the provision will serve as a stimulant to encourage attendance in schools and reduce the problem of out-of-school children.
President Bola Tinubu said: “One of the priority areas of the bill we just passed is the N100 billion provision for the feeding of school children. I believe that is a stimulant that will encourage school enrolment and address malnutrition among school children.”
“I will be meeting with local government at sub-national levels so that we can collaborate and jointly implement an all-inclusive programme.”
It is even reported that, given the galloping inflation which is about 34% according to the National Bureau of Statistics, the National Home-Grown Feeding Programme, FG now requires N540 billion to implement the programme in 2024.
Having reports of humongous spending on the programme without verifiable results is a disservice to the nation.
I suggest that the government should fine-tune its strategies and machinery for effective and efficient results.
Let us all salvage the education sector and advance the nation and humanity.
God bless Nigeria!!!
I pray God to grant us all journey mercies to our respective destinations at the end of this programme. May He keep us alive and in good health to witness next year’s edition.
Thank you for listening.
(The Organising Committee Chairman of the scheme, Elder Dele Ajiboye, decried economic down turn in the nation.
He called for concerted efforts to address national challenges.
Below is his speech:
BUILDING HUMANITY
Once again I will like to dwell on the subject of humanity. The topic – humanity – cannot be overflogged not especially in the present day Nigeria where all sorts of atrocious acts pervade among the citizenry. Even the government appears to be clueless or perhaps indifferent to the situation of the people.
Hugo Slim, in his treatise titled “The Power of Humanity: On being Human Now and in the Future” (2019), posits that humanity means three things: a species, a behaviour and a global identity.
Humanity as a species describes the kind of animal that biologists refer to as homo sapiens i.e wise human that is distinct from other animals because of its power of language, imagination and technology.
Humanity as a behaviour he sees as the moral value that is expected to operate across humankind such as kindness and compassion for one another.
This writeup will focus mainly on humanity as a species and especially how to improve on the lot of humankind.
According to the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation (June 4, 2024), while reflecting on 365 days of President Tinubu, the President’s economic policies have left the majority of Nigerians in deeper economic austerity; national inflation rate rose to over 30% (34.19% to be precise) in that month with the possibility of it soaring higher; naira value plummeted (from about N460.00/dollar in May 2023 to N1,600.00/dollar in June 2024); exodus of multinationals leading to worsening unemployment.
The result is that prices of food and essential household items have skyrocketed. Health care is out of reach, security situation has become treacherous while transportation and education have suddenly become luxuries.
Government policies seem to have mortgaged our present without giving room for any hope for tomorrow.
According to Marie Curie, you cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individual. Charlie Chaplin equally says “we think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity; more than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost”. Permit me also to quote Martin Luther King Jnr. He says “We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools.”
Slim sees humankind as a hybrid species – part human and part technology. He explains that our intelligence has consistently helped us to invent, develop and deploy tools and technology assisting us in dominating the earth and that this our essential hybridity is presently still in the emergent stage of a giant leap towards new forms of power which we presently cannot envision. Slim fears the possibility that as we attain higher levels of interactivity with technology, it may inevitably change the experience of being Human and the power of humanity. He further laments that as this power of humanity increases dramatically due to the revolution in human – machine interaction, what will happen to the ethics of our behaviour and our wisdom regarding the way we use the new power?
Ethical behaviour demands that we help to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found and to protect life and health and ensure respect for human life (Red Cross and Crescent Movement Creed).
Unfortunately the opposite is the case in Nigeria today. Human life has no value any longer. People are kidnapped and killed for all sorts of reasons. Farmers are killed because cows must feed. People are slaughtered to harvest human spare parts. Our politicians are only interested in power and the personal gains they will derive from it. Because of government policies, essential drugs are no longer available in the market paving rooms for fake drugs. People are dying due to lack of adequate health care and food. Tomorrow is being built on a foundation of the blood of those of us who are alive today. Unfortunately that tomorrow is bleak for those who will be there except we all join hands together to do something positive today. Education is rapidly getting out of the reach of the majority of Nigerians. So what is in tomorrow for the youths and even those yet to be born without education and qualitative one for that matter?
Let us call to mind the words of Charlie Chaplin and M. L. King Jnr that life will be violent and all will be lost and that if we do not live together as brothers we will all perish together as fools. It is therefore not at all surprising the present volatile situation in the country that may get worse if care is not taken.
In times like this we need people who will stand up to help build humanity, to help improve the lots of the ‘helpless’ that the society at large may improve. We need those who will show love solely because they want to show it and not for any gain. We need the likes of Bayo and Bunmi Babalola who are moved to show love purely for altruistic reasons. Someone once said that humanity should be our race and love our religion.
Today, I implore you my listeners and any one who may have the opportunity of reading this writeup up to let these words by Roy T. Bennet be our guide as we progress in life and this is that you should be the reason someone smiles and be the reason someone feels loved and believes in the goodness in people.
I hereby by welcome you all to the Ninth Edition of Bayo and Bunmi Babalola Foundation’s Scholarship Programme.
