This is what he wrote on his
blog:
By
Atiku Abubakar
My
name is Atiku Abubakar. I wouldn’t be who I am today without education.
I
have always talked about how I attended school very much against the wish
of my late father. My dad was actually sent to prison for barring his son from
access to education. As my biography makes clear, I only started
attending school after the authorities put my father in jail. Amazingly, this
poor boy who could have missed the chance of an education grew to occupy one of
the highest offices of the land. This is the power of education; it holds the
potential to transform lives by liberating human beings from poverty, ignorance
and disease.
Because
of this personal example, all my life I have aspired to, working with fellow
countrymen and women, create and expand access to education for every
child in the land. More than twenty years ago, long before I became Vice
President, with the able support of my wife, I started my first school, a
kindergarten/primary school. In the time since then the venture has expanded to
university level, providing world-class education to multitudes of young
persons – many of whom are indigent students who get generous concessions and
scholarships, because of my firm belief that poverty should never be allowed to
stand in the way of a great education.
But
in all of this I have remained dissatisfied. I have always felt that I could do
more, that Nigeria could do more, for the proper education of our young people.
And then I recently got active on social media, an experience that instantly
made me wish I had done this much earlier. The very insightful conversations I
regularly have on the platforms have demonstrated to me that the solutions to
Nigeria’s education problems are best known by the users of the system, our
young people; the ones currently bearing the brunt of the failings.
Over
the last 10 years, I have contributed a small fortune in scholarships, through
yearly endowments. This year, I intend to continue that tradition, but with a
small twist: I would like to combine that traditional scholarship award with an
opportunity to let young Nigerians develop their ideas about how to save
Nigeria’s education system.
So,
this year, one full scholarship, tenable in a Nigerian or foreign institution,
will be going to the winner of a competitive process – an essay contest.
There
will also be consolation prizes.
My office has helped to put together a formal processfor applying for the scholarship.
I
sincerely hope this competition will spark interest among the most important
stakeholders in our nation’s schools, Nigeria’s passionate and thoughtful young
people.
I
encourage you to please spread the word.
And
may the best woman or man win.
You can visit his blog for more details. Open to all Nigerian students.
This is a beautiful gesture. Thank you Sir.
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