Senator representing Rivers South East in the National Assembly, Magnus Abe, has awarded scholarship to 77 undergraduates from the seven local government areas that make up the district.
The students were drawn from University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE), and Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori.
Speaking at the presentation, attended by heads of various tertiary institutions, traditional rulers and members of the State House of Assembly, among others, Abe expressed optimism that before 2015, no fewer than 200 undergraduates from the district would have benefited from the scholarship scheme.
He said: “These things that I do are my own things that I am doing, and I am very happy about that.
“In the scholarship scheme, if we take 77 students this year and next year we take another 77, by the third year, we will be having over 200. It is not a constituency project; it is not funded by the government.
“For all those that are going to benefit from this programme, whether I am in office or out of office, as long as you make up your own terms with the CGPA we have agreed on, God will provide money and we will continue with the programme until the last child that get into the programme comes out successfully.”
Earlier, in his address, chairman of the occasion, Hon. Justice Peter Akere, lauded the senato
r for awarding the scholarship to indigenes of the senatorial district, saying that Abe was the first senator from the zone to embark on such laudable project.
Also speaking, the chairman, Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, King Godwin Gininwa, thanked Abe for his benevolence, describing him as the best senator to come from the state in the current political dispensation.
On his part, Vice Chancellor, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Prof. Barineme Fakae, said the scholarship programme would help the people from the senatorial district to develop knowledge-based economy.
Fakae said: “Oil will finish one day. The best we can do now is to develop a knowledge-based economy so that when oil finishes, we can export knowledge.
“If you are educated, you will succeed in life. We praise Senator Abe for this gesture.”
In their goodwill messages, member representing Gokana Constituency in the State House of Assembly, Innocent Barikor, and the state Commissioner for Works, Victor Giadom, expressed joy over the project and urged Abe to sustain the tempo.
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