An NGO, Stephen Akintayo Foundation, on Sunday, gave out N50,000 each to 50 students to assist in the payment of their school fees.
The founder of the group, Dr Stephen Akintayo, said that the intervention would help cushion the harsh economic conditions many parents and students were facing.
Akintayo stated this during the presentation of bursary awards to the students at Radisson Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that beneficiaries got the bursary through cheques written in favor of their different schools.
The bursary was paid directly to the school so that the money would be used for the purpose it was given.
Akintoye said that the initiative was taken to alleviate the challenges some parents go through paying their children’s school fees.
He noted that the money was given to reduce the hardships induced by the COVID-19 pandemic and to put smiles on the faces of the students as they return to school
Akintayo explained that the motivation behind the bursary awards was because he experienced difficult times while growing up.
“My mother was a civil servant who struggled to raise five children. She took loans to keep sending us to school and I vowed that as God blesses me in whatever capacity, l will give back.
“I always say that no human body can survive without air, that is the same way giving is like breathing.
“No destiny can become glorious without giving and like MKO Abiola would say, the giving hand is always on top,” he said
Akintayo, who is also the Group Managing Director of GText Homes, urged the beneficiaries to remain strong and focused in order to become successful in their future endeavours.
According to him, everyone could give in their own little way, noting that giving is not just for the rich.
“It is in Nigeria that we have the mindset that only the rich should give back to the society.
“In the UK or US, you see children selling candies for charity. Everyone should understand that it is a collective effort and we can all do it at our levels.
“We need to have that mindset in Nigeria where all of us are seeing charity as our collective responsibility,” Akintayo said.
He assured that the foundation would continue to protect and promote the interest of students towards having better development for the students, the schools and the country.
The beneficiaries urged others to emulate the president by giving out to the less privileged especially at this period when the effect of COVID-19 was taking a toll on parents.
A beneficiary, Thompson Moses of Faith Foundation Model School, Alogbole Ogun, lauded the gesture.
He urged others to emulate the gesture by giving out to the less privileged, especially at this period when the effect of COVID-19 was taking a toll on parents.
Another beneficiary, Blessing Okon of Praise Children Preparatory School, Ilesa, Osun, said that she had been living with her aunty since 2019 when her parents died.
“Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19, my aunty lost her job and this made it difficult for her to pay my school fees but l thank God that l can now go back to school through the kind gesture of this foundation,” she said
NAN reports that among the beneficiaries were Abdulmalik Tijani, De Modern Pace School, Ipaja, Lagos; Aishat Robiu; Budding Minds Academy, Oshodi, Lagos and Emmanuel Godson of Scholars Universal College, Ota, Ogun.
