CELF 2021: Kwara govt. awards outstanding fellows N30m scholarships

Kwara Governor, AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq, has approved the sum of N30 million for students from rural areas participating in the 2021 edition of Countryside Emerging Leaders Fellowship (CELF).

This was made known in a statement issued by Mallam Lawal Olohungbebe, Representative of the corporate organisers of the fellowship, Haashim Initiative for Community Advancement (HICA) and Hannis Institute for Development Studies (HIDS), in Ilorin on Friday.

According to him, the funds will cover tuition and miscellaneous expenses for 16 outstanding fellows across the 16 local government areas of the state.

”This is a proof of the governor’s commitment to lend a helping hand to every aspiring young person in the state.

“As someone who has seen first-hand the disadvantages suffered by young people struggling in rural areas to access quality education, we are confident that the governor’s gesture will help to bring forth the potentials of many enterprising youths in our rural communities to make Kwara proud in the nearest future,” Olohungbebe said.

The CELF convener expressed the gratitude of the fellows, their parents and the organisers to the state government for supporting the independent initiative.

He said that the initiative was aimed at advancing the state’s education and human capacity development as well as encouraging participants through targeted supports, such as the scholarship awards.

He also thanked the government for institutionalising CELF through budgetary provision, a decision, he said, would guarantee sustainability of the programme.

A correspondent reports that CELF was established in 2020 as a yearly educational intervention, aimed at building the capacity of young people in the state, particularly those in the rural areas.

Reports also that the current fellowship, with the theme: ‘Nurturing Potentials and Delivering Growth,’ started on Nov. 1, is expected to produce the beneficiaries for this year