By Amos Aar, Makurdi
DANGOTE Group of Companies has disbursed scholarship awards to indigenous students from its coal mining host communities in Okpokwu and Ogbadibo local government areas of Benue State studying in tertiary institutions to support their education.
Presenting cheques to the beneficiaries on Thursday, August 19, 2021 at Dangote Coal Mines administrative office located in Otukpa, headquarters of Ogbadibo LGA, General Manager, Special Duties, Dangote Mines, Mr Nuhu Eluja, said the scheme was part of the company’s corporate social responsibility meant to encourage education in the communities they are operating.
“We started this scheme last year, 2020, when we started operation in the month of April. This is the second batch we are giving. Last year, we covered two communities, that is Effeche in Okpokwu local government area and Odoba in Ogbadibo local government area and for those two communities last year, the total sum of N2 million was given to them.
“So, this year, as we are extending our operations to another community, Abache Community, in Okpokwu local government, has been added. As a result, this year, the amount has been increased from N2 million to N3 million.
“We are doing all these as part of our own corporate social responsibility and they are all documented in our own community development agreement with the host communities. This is just one of them. We have other schemes like microcredit scheme, which we hope to release the some of N3 million to each community through their cooperative societies so that they can use the money to improve their businesses.
“We also have other projects that we are executing like electricity, we have completed electricity project in Effeche and we are awaiting commissioning. We have also carried to 90% completion of a solar-powered borehole in Effeche, it has already been in use, we are test-running it, the community has been using it for two months now.
“We also have road projects which we are embarking upon to make the communities accessible especially to enable them package their goods from farm to the markets. We also have school classroom/building construction and clinics in those communities and we are supposed to complete all these within five years,” Mr Eluja said.
Fielding questions from National Record’s correspondent with regard to the yardstick the company used in selecting beneficiaries for the scholarship, Mr Eluja said: “We gave the community leaders free hand to choose their candidates, they know their students, we don’t know them. So when they give us their candidates, we confirm by asking for their letters of admission into various institutions of higher learning.”
In a remark, Head of Mining Operations, Dileep Paman, said the major concept of the scholarship distribution was to empower the students to achieve useful and desired labour. He tasked the beneficiaries on judicious use of the funds, urging them to avoid the temptation of spending it on other things like clothes, shoes and handbags which according to him are less important and constitute mere euphoria as compared to the certificate.
Also speaking, the Executive Chairman, Okpokwu LGA, Hon. Mrs Amina Audu, represented by Legislative Leader of the Council, Hon. Omaga Omaga, thanked Dangote Group for its support towards the education of youths in the host communities. The Chairman commended the communities for creating a peaceful atmosphere for the company to succeed and encouraged them not to deviate.
Chief Samuel Ameh who responded on behalf of Effeche Community, Chief Sunday Onuh and Hon. James Edwin Akor, who spoke for Abache and Odoba communities respectively, were unanimous in their assurances for a sustained cooperation with Dangote and advised their children to use the scholarship funds strictly for the purpose it was meant.
Hon. James Akor of Odoba Community said Dangote has value for education as a major tool for rural development. He said their community was benefiting from the gesture for the second time and appealed for sustenance of the scheme.
Responding on behalf of the scholarship recipients, Ameh Mary, Patience Obaje and Simon Ogwu who spoke for Odoba, Effeche and Abache respectively, thanked the community leaders for choosing them out of many for the scholarship. They also appreciated Dangote for the assistance and promised not to take it for granted.
