First Lady’s N50m endowment fund for YABATECH best female student

First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, yesterday announced the endowment of a N50 million fund for Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) overall best female student.

She made the announcement, following the conferment of Fellowship Award on her at the 36th convocation of the college, held in Yaba, Lagos.

The First Lady, represented by the Senior Special Assistant to the President, Public Affairs and Strategy, Office of the First Lady, Wahab Alawiye King, noted that the gesture was part of her efforts to lift young Nigerian girls for nation building and development.

The president’s wife said the education of every Nigerian child was a collective responsibility, emphasising her initiation of charity programmes over the years, including New Era Foundation that gave birth to the Lagos State Spelling Bee Competition, which produced the One-Day-Governor event; Musical Youth Festival initiative that led to the Leadership Academy for Girls, mentorship programme called Daughters of Salafi and Renewed Hope Initiative, which acts as a scope for education, economic empowerment, health, agriculture and social investment.

She dedicated the Fellowship Award and the endowment to every young girl who cares to dream.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, represented by Minister of State for Education, Suwaiba Ahmad, reiterated his administration’s commitment to providing an enabling environment for productivity in tertiary institutions, through funding and infrastructural support.

House of Representatives Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, who also received the Fellowship Award of the institution, said a bill that would end dichotomy between university and polytechnic education was underway to stop discrimination against polytechnic graduates.

The Rector, Dr Ibraheem Abdul, said no fewer than 8,139 students graduated.