Visually-impaired student, about 300 other young Nigerians get education scholarships

Not less than 300 undergraduate Nigerian students were conferred Educational Support awards over the weekend, and also enlisted into a mentoring programme by a non-profit, the HillCity Foundation.

The awards were presented to the scholars at an event hosted by the Foundation at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island in Lagos on Saturday.

The organisation, said to have been borne out of divine inspiration, seeks to help “abandoned young people in our communities who lack the direction and support needed to fulfill their destinies.”

According to the lead coordinator, Mr. Obi Imemba, last weekend’s awardees will get an annual support fund of eighty-five thousand naira (N85,000.00) and also benefit from a well-coordinated mentoring programme.

Our correspondent gathered at the event that the foundation, which was founded since 2004 with only five core team members, has successfully funded the education of about 2,000 students, who hitherto had no hopes of furthering their university education.

“We saw a society that was not caring. We saw young people that were not catered for, a lot of abandoned young Nigerians with trapped talents and mortgaged aspiration, and we wanted to help,” Imemba told Ripples Nigeria.

“Our goal is to raise a people of purpose that will make a difference everywhere they go, and we achieve this by touching one life at a time.

“We gave the very first set of awards to five people in 2005, and the five awardees were given ten thousand naira each. But today, we are giving over 300 students eighty-five thousand naira each,” he added.

HillCity, as explained during the opening speech, does not only empower its awardees monetarily but also makes impact through its mentoring programme, so much so that some beneficiaries of the award specifically heaped praises on that aspect of the programme.

Read Also: UTME 2019: JAMB releases 15, 490 withheld results

“Apart from the funds I got, the things I learnt from the mentoring, seminars and trainings here at HillCity, I have been able to start my own business,” said Ajayi Beauty Martins, an entrepreneur and graduate of University of PortHarcourt, who benefited from the foundation while in school.

A visually-impaired beneficiary, Blessing Yakubu, also spoke on how the Foundation has helped her in terms of funding and has encouraged her in all areas of her academic pursuit.

Miss Yakubu, who currently studies at the University of Jos, said “schooling as a visually impaired student is challenging and very costly” but admitted that the foundation has helped her in every way, spurring her to make great impacts in her life.

The testimony was same for a medical student of Ebonyi State University, Kalu Bernard Essien, and one Michael Ugboma, an Electrical Engineering student of Federal University of Technology Owerri, both of whom were getting the award for the first time but had gone through the self-discovery seminars and mentoring sessions.

Meanwhile, one of the major highlights of Saturday’s event was the donation of N50,000-worth of scholarships to 20 students in support of HillCity’s mission by the Founder and CEO of Leadership Seed, Austin Ofomba.

Also, with a loud cheer, attendees at the event received the news that HillCity Foundation has been inaugurated in Uganda in February 2019, with 11 students receiving the Educational Support awards.

Mrs. Chioma Imemba, the mentorship coordinator for the Foundation, said Nigeria would become a better place if every well-doing citizen could touch one life at a time.

“The Foundation started with five members who wanted to give hope to the hopeless and direction to the lost. The goal was to reach one person at a time, and 15 years down the line, we have come this far thanks to our fantastic partners.

“If every Nigerian can pick one person, just one person, to make a difference in their lives, we will have a beautiful country. That’s all it takes,” she said.

By Benjamin Ugbana…

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now