35 winners of the Alex Otti
Tertiary Institution Scholarship Program 2021 edition have received their letters of induction into the Alex Otti Foundation of scholars.
The foundation which was founded by a foremost banker and politician Chief Alex Otti, seeks to encourage young vibrant and studious undergraduates to realize their academic pursuit.
Speaking shortly after the induction ceremony, Otti, retreated the need for an overhauling of the education sector in Nigeria.
He said although the sector may not be properly funded, but other factors like the quality of teachers, laboratories and libraries must be properly equipped to produce employable graduates.
He said,"I was a CEO of a bank and I sat for many years interviewing people, I discovered that the quality of our graduates had dropped, I'm talking about 6- 7 years ago, you can imagine what happened today.
"I had always called for us to seat down and critically look at our education sector, because anyhow you look at it, if you do not educate your people, you are bound to have illerate all the places. They will not be employable and they will eventually become nusanse to the. Society,
"I will want to use this opportunity to call on government at all levels, Local Government that should take care of the primary education, the State Government for secondary education and the Federal Government which share the responsibility of the tertiary
education with the state Government to seat down again and pay attention to education".
Earlier the executive secretary Alex Otti Foundation, Mr Ekeke Chinedu, said the vision of the foundation is aimed at giving talented students the opportunity to excel.
He Explained that the winners were selected after going through the rigours of screening process by the foundation's foreign and Nigerian consultants.
He charged the recipients to maintain the academic performance which qualifed them for scholarship, adding that the only criteria to sustain them in the scheme until graduation remains that their CGP must be 3.5 and above.
One of the recipients, Chukwuebuka
Martin, a special student of department of phycology in the University of Nigeria Nsuuka, luaded Otti for offering him the opportunity to actualize his academic dreams.
He revealed that he will reciprocate the gesture by impacting meaningfully well on the society in the future just like Otti.
According to him, "This scholarship means three things to me, which I have called the three I's, and they are Independence influence and impact.
"Independence means, I can now pursue my academics without depending on my family and the society for financial assistance again, influence simply means that I can influence others like me not give up the hope of achieving their dreams in life, impact means I will impact on others like Dr Alex Otti".
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