The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) and the World Bank
Nigeria are not going to give scholarships to indigent or any other
category of students.
The Vice-Chancellor of NOUN, Prof. Abdalla Uba Adamu, said this
clarification became necessary in view of the understanding in some
quarters that the Bank was going to be awarding scholarships directly to
people who wish to obtain tertiary education through the university.
Adamu explained that if NOUN is seeking sponsorship for the less
privileged students, such as internally displaced persons, women and
indigent youth, it would first and foremost sell the idea to the
individual states.
“If a state government buys into the concept, it will then approach
the World Bank indicating its interest. The Bank will evaluate the
request and then, if it is satisfied, provide funds to NOUN for the
sponsorship of students from the state, and only if the World Bank is
satisfied that there will be equity and transparency in the selection
process,” he said.
“World Bank and NOUN are therefore not going to give scholarship to
anybody. Neither will the Bank provide any money to the individual
states directly for this purpose. The Bank is only a facilitator,” he
added.
The Vice-Chancellor pointed out that what makes this possible is
the World Bank’s intervention programme, the Education for All component
of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which NOUN has since keyed
into.
He said the university would soon embark on sensitisation visits to
states across the country to sell the idea to them because the
provision of education to all segments of the Nigerian society was the
core function of NOUN’s mandate.
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