By Olusegun Obisanya
The Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN) has lauded the Federal Government initiative to make education affordable and available to Nigerian students through the Student Education Loan assented to recently by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his few days in office.
The faith-based organisation was of the view that the loan will aid parents of brilliant but indigent students who have strong desire to further their education and those who are in institutions of higher learning but are struggling with funds.
The General Secretary/CEO, Bible Society of Nigeria, Pastor Samuel Sanusi stated these on Friday at the second edition of BSN primary school Bible competition, which was held at Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos.
In the keenly contested grand finale of primary schools Bible quiz competition, Christ The Redeemer’s Victor’s School, emerged the overall winner while God’s Glory Nursery and Pry School and Covenant Child Academy were first and second runners-up respectively. Each were presented with commensurate prizes and consolation prizes were also given to other participating schools from the inception of the quiz.
Represented by Assistant General Secretary, Finance, BSN, Yemisi Oluwagbami, the CEO said, “The Federal Government has done the right thing that they introduced the Student Loan to aid the indigent ones. But for them to be able to access the loan, there will many criteria to be followed. Whichever criteria government has chosen, they should make funds available and allow indigent students that truly need the loan to have access to it.
“The loan is a laudable idea but my advice is that it should be prevented from being abused by selfish, greedy individuals in the country. The loan must strictly be monitored by government to prevent unscrupulous elements in the country from scuttling the original purpose of the loan and deny students who truly are in need of it.”
Sanusi said the second edition of the primary schools competition was at State level.
“This is not a national competition but state and it is the grand finale of the competition which commenced sometime ago. A particular Bible known as “100 Best” was given to pupils of the participating schools. At the moment, we are starting at the State level, we may go national later. The programme involves funding, therefore, we call on well-meaning Nigerians to sponsor a project as this,” he added.
The Bible says train up a child in the he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. We are catching them young. These are primary school pupils and you have what they can do. If we continue with the godly training of these little ones, when they grow up, we are sure that the future of the nation is bright.
Speaking, the pupils, whose age ranged between 5 and 10 years, thanked BSN for organising the quiz, saying it would propel them to do more academically and focus on their future endeavours. They were also grateful to their parents who assisted in preparing for the task.
The faith-based organisation urges parents not to relent in the training of their children. Government shouldn’t stop to fund education in Nigeria just as private schools are being funded by individuals. Government needs to encourage teachers so they can give their best. These children are our future, if they are not rightly guided. If they are not properly guided from their foundation, it can affect their future.
