Group introduces lottery programme to fund education

By Ikenna Uwadileke

A Non-Governmental Organisation, the SchoolMe Foundation, has called for increased private sector participation in the provision of quality education for Nigerians to support government’s efforts.

The organisation made the call on Tuesday in Abuja while unveiling the SchoolMe scholarship lottery programme.

Representative of the Foundation, Mr Jacob Momoh said that the educational support programme was designed to provide financial aid to young people and also fund educational projects across the country via lottery.

According to him, the lack of fund should never be a reason for not getting quality education.

“Pooling resources from the public to make funds available to anyone who is interested in going to school is our main focus; at the same time, we are rewarding players through the lottery.

“The idea is to give everyone a chance to make a little sacrifice by playing the lottery which will help fund education for others; there is the possibility of winning some cash,” Momoh said.

He further explained that the education funding initiative will not only check the increasing financial constrains mitigating against students’ dreams, but would go a long way in addressing the dwindling access to quality education in Nigeria.

“The initiative is designed to creatively raise funds to mitigate the high cost education and support the academic dreams of the citizenry.

“The SchoolMe scholarship lottery is poised to provide a viable scholarship initiative with a two-prong approach which are instant financial reward and scholarship,” Momoh said.

In his remark, Prof. Damian Ogbonnaya of Engineering Science Department, State University, New York, urged Nigerians to participate in the programme in order to generate income to promote academic goals of young Nigerians.

According to him, the cost of education is getting astronomically high and many are finding it very difficult to access quality education.

“Some who have accessed, are finding it difficult to go through school because of financial constraints.

“Countless numbers are dropping out of school; others want to further their studies but do not have the means.

“This has led to increased number of miscreants who become a menace to the society,” Ogbonnaya said.

Similarly, a Nollywood actor, Francis Duru, while commending the initiators of the project, urged Nigerians to explore the opportunity to liberate themselves from poverty.

Duru said: “education is the most powerful tool in which you can use to change the society.

“There exists a parallel correlation between education and development.

“The school fund initiative will create a pool of enlightened and educated citizens that will form the base of human capital resources for the development of our country Nigeria”.