OPay has penned a Memorandum of Understanding with Olabisi Onabanjo University, OOU, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, to support 20 indigent undergraduates of the institution with a N300,000 scholarship each, yearly.
The company recently shared that the gesture would help young Nigerians achieve their educational goals.
Speaking during the signing of the MoU with the university management held at its Senate building on Friday, the Chief Public Affairs Officer of the fintech company, Justin Zhang, said that after living in Nigeria for more than a decade, he has seen many young citizens struggle to fund their educational dreams.
According to him, it is important for OPay to give back to society, especially the young generation, which forms the majority of its customer base, that has contributed to the company making a profit in recent years.
He stated that the scholarship project, which began last year, will help more Nigerian students wrap up their university education early enough, as opposed to the current reality of Nigerian youths leaving their different higher institutions around age 28 to 30.
Zhang disclosed that the Fintech company kicked off the scholarship project with the University of Ibadan, representing the South, and the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna, representing the Northern region.
“I have worked for 13 years in Nigeria, particularly in the South-West, and I have also met many young ones who are quite smart but are having financial difficulties with their education. Some of these young ones, after spending a year at the university, may have to go and work for one or two years to get some money to pay for their school fees, and because of this, they have to be finishing schooling by 28 or 30, but if they have financial support, they could finish schooling by 23 or 24 and do so many more things for themselves and the society at large.
So we started this programme last year. We picked the University of Ibadan for the southern region and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, for the northern region, but we have decided to extend it to 18 more universities this year, making 20 universities in all. For every university we pick, we grant 20 slots, and each benefiting student receives N300,000, which means that for every year we will be spending N120m for the scholarship project, and the first phase of this project will last for 10 years,” he said.
The Vice Chancellor of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Prof. Ayodeji Agboola, applauded Opay for making an effort to support and invest in the education of young Nigerians.
He concluded by saying that the brilliant gesture aligns perfectly with OOU’s goal for every Nigerian youth.
“This kind of gesture is in line with the three Es objectives that we are pursuing at the university. We want our students to be able to pursue their education; we want them to be employable and also be employers of labour as well.
When you visit our technology hub centre, you will see marvellous things and innovations by our students, but they lack the financial wherewithal to scale them up, and that is why I will urge OPay to consider partnering with the university in the areas of research fairs and boot camps.
This will enable our students to market themselves to the outside world while we also look at how their various entrepreneurial drives and skills could be supported to achieve greater impact,” he added.
