Scholarship

By Rabiu Sani-Ali

Kano, Jan. 1, 2021 (NAN) The Ma’ajin Watari Foundation (MWF), a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) has promised to provide scholarship to 90 female science students to tackle shortage of female medical personnel in Kano State.

Dr Abba Ahmad, MWF founder, told newsmen on Friday in Kano, that the students would be trained under the education endowment fund of the foundation.

Ahmad, also the District Head of Kabo, said the target was to provide special training to students of senior secondary schools in science subjects, to prepare them to study medicine and related disciplines in tertiary institutions.

“It is a deliberate step to train the girl-child starting from SS1 to SS3 classes, to prepare them to excel in the National Examination Commission (NECO) and Senior Secondary School Examination Certificate Examination (SSCE).

“It will avail them the opportunity to secure university admission to read medicine and other related disciplines.

“Our target is to tackle shortage of female medical personnel, reduce maternal mortality and enhance healthcare services in the state,” Ahmad said.

According to him, the foundation will also offer scholarship to successful students to further their education at the university level.

Ahmad said the foundation was being funded through personal donation, adding that modalities have been put in place to ensure sustainability of the project.(NAN)

RSA/OIF/ABI
Edited by Ifeyinwa Okonkwo/Ali Baba-Inuwa

By Cecilia Ijuo

Prof. Job Nmadu of Federal University of technology, Minna, says the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU)’s nine months strike in 2020, impacted negatively on university communities by crippling their economic activities.

Nmadu said this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

According to him, those affected by the strike, numbering about 20 million, included traders, landlords, hoteliers, transporters and many others.

Nmadu, a professor of Agricultural Economics, said that the impact of the strike was devastating.

“The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) declared a two-week warning strike and the strike became full fledged on March 20.

“With the COVID-19 lockdown, the impact of the strike was not initially felt at the national level.

“However, stakeholders in the university communities including traders, landlords, transporters and many others, started feeling the pinch of the strike almost immediately.

“The strike battered the economy of the communities with a population of about 20 million people,” he said.

The don, also President, Nigerian Association of Agricultural Economists (NAAE), said that other factors also contributed negatively to the country’s economy in 2020.

He named them to include COVID-19 pandemic, crude oil price crash, violent crimes, #ENDSARS protest, flood among others.

He, however, expressed optimism that there would be turn around in 2021, adding that, “the year is crucial to economic recovery of Nigeria.

“Nigeria was no doubt stressed in 2020 but those stressors must be removed in 2021.

“This is to ensure steady and sustainable economic growth as well as well-planned industrial development so as to attain the 2030 Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs) target.

“Also, inflation management should be overhauled.

“A reformed economic team would ensure that prices of goods and services are brought down to atleast 50 per cent their current rate,” he said.(NAN)