The Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Steven Evans, has said the company has committed N80m to fund scholarship awards to about 800 Nigerian students in tertiary institutions across the country.
Evans disclosed this at the 5th Etisalat Merit Awards in Abuja.
Evans, who was represented at the event by the Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Ibrahim Dikko, said the company was committed to the improvement of qualitative education in the country, by rewarding outstanding students.
Each of the awardees receives N100, 000, he noted.
According to him, over 800 scholarships have been awarded under the Merit Awards Scheme, as the company continues to build on its core corporate social responsibility platform of empowering Nigerian youths to obtain qualitative education.
Evans, who emphasised the importance of education to a nation, pointed out that out of the 41 per cent of Nigerian citizens that are youths, only a fraction are students.
He stressed that education remained a powerful tool for change that could facilitate the economic advancement of any nation.
He said, “The essence of the Merit Awards is to offer the best university students in partner institutions a grant towards the successful completion of their courses of study; taking care of their financial burden and enabling them to concentrate on their programmes, thereby achieving excellence.
“It is just not about establishing ourselves as a business. We also believe in giving back to the society we operate in and we believe that we are able to do this through the Merit Awards.
“Dynamic economies that have emerged in the last 50 years have done so on the back of heavy investment in education. It is with this in mind that we at Etisalat have committed to supporting the government in improving the educational system in Nigeria.”
The Director-General, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion, Dr. Umar Bindir, commended Etisalat for sustaining their efforts at improving quality education in Nigeria.
He said that the company was not just being responsible but investing in the lives of the students through the grants.
