In a bid to celebrate the excellent performance of some brilliant candidates in the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, the Nigerian Society of Engineers has awarded scholarships to 16 candidates who sat for the examination.
This was disclosed on Wednesday July 1, 2020, by NSE President, Babagana Mohammed.
Mohammed disclosed this while addressing a gathering of parents, top engineers and JAMB officials during the official unveiling of the scholarships.
“The gesture is in line with the institution’s strategic mission and objective of getting more Nigerians to study and practice engineering, and to grow the profession,” Mohammed explained.
The beneficiaries have indicated interest in studying mechanical, industrial production, electrical, computer as well as civil engineering in Nigerian universities.
The best three of the 16 candidates, Maduafokwa Egoagwuagwa Agnes, Nwobi Okwuchuwu David, and Ojuba Mezisasha Shalom, scored 369, 363 and 359 in the examination.
Each of the candidates will get N200, 000 per year for the next five years if they gain admission into any tertiary institution this year.
Each of them will also be given a brand new laptop while the best candidate, Maduafokwa got an extra new laptop and a tablet donated by the President, Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria, Mrs. Funmilola Ojelade, and other sponsors.
Mohammed revealed the twin criteria for the selection of the candidates as overall performance in terms of scores in the 2020 UTME examination and geopolitical merit consideration.
He said that a trust fund and an account would be created for the scholarship fund to be managed by an independent committee.
Mohammad charged Nigerians to see it as a sacred responsibility to position the engineering profession and future workforce to play a critical role in evolving society where technical skills and creativity would be highly sought after.
“The seeds for Nigerian and indeed African technological transformation and breakthrough need to be planted and nurtured today,” he said.
The Deputy Director of JAMB, Dr Lawal Yusuf, lauded the NSE for the initiative and charged Nigerians to continue to stand up in finding solutions to everything that constitutes problems in the society.