IKA WEEKLY.
The Special Assistant (SA) to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on youths and Community Development, General Emeke Asiwe has stated that every undergraduate for Ika South and Ika North East Local Government Areas will benefit from the send-me-back-to school program
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General Asiwe made this statement during the launch of the first phase of the program on November 28, 2015, at Ika National Hall, Agbor which saw over 37 undergraduates benefit from the scheme and went home with a stipend of N10,000 each to support their academic pursuit in this time of economic crunch being experienced nationwide.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the launch of the program, General Asiwe said that the send-me-back-to-school program was initiated by his office and designed to send undergraduates back to school with little stipend in order to encourage and motivate them. Speaking , he said, “the program is not sponsored by my office but we sought funds from illustrious sons and daughters of Ika to sponsor the program. This particular phase was sponsored by Hon. Tony Elekwokwuri, member representing Ika North-East at the State House of Assembly and that is why only undergraduates from Ika North East benefited from it. Subsequently by January 2016 when students will be going back to school, we will get other persons to sponsor that phase and we pray God to continue to give us sponsors so that the program can continue.”
On why he insisted not to use the list of in….beneficiaries already compiled before that day, General Asiwe said, “We discovered that the list was politicized and a lot of persons who were given the power to nominate, nominated their sons, brothers, sisters, wives, relatives. That is not what we wanted for the program. We want the program to reflect the objective of its and that is to give help to undergraduates. Some people they norminated had even graduated.”
He continued, “undergraduates from Ika South will benefit from the next phase because we are already interacting with our leaders from Ika South to key into the program, sponsor. It so that their people will benefit. We are one family and so no part of Ika nation will be left out.”
General Emeke Asiwe revealed the modalities for eligibility for beneficiaries when he said that they first gave national association of Ika Students (NAIS) opportunity to screen the undergraduates to ensure they are valid students, and thereafter they were asked to present their school identity card to prove their studentship. He lamented that some students could not present a valid school ID card, even as some others could not identify the name of their community and their community leaders. He also called on well-meaning Ika sons, daughters and philanthropist to key into the program for sponsorship so that they can cover a verse majority of students of Ika South and Ika North-East.
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