A total of 326 undergraduate and postgraduate students of various Nigerian tertiary institutions, have benefitted from the scholarship scheme of the Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District, Senator Dr. Victor Umeh.

Amid jubilation, the beneficiaries who were accompanied by their parents and guardians, received instant credit alerts at a colourful ceremony held at Canaan House event centre Awka, organised by the Victor Umeh Foundation (VUMEF).

Speaking before the presentation of the cheques, Senator Umeh who was accompanied by his wife, Lady Prisca Chinenye Umeh, said he chose education as his constituency project under the South-East zonal intervention programme of the Federal Government, because of its importance to the development of the nation.

According to him, VUMEF took up education, owing to its primary aim of developing the youths to make them better and more useful members of the society, in order to build a better nation.

He said: “Education is a basic need you must give a child. That is why we have taken education as the primary arm of developing the youths and the nation. When you empower the youths, you have empowered the nation.

 

“Education is the light that will illuminate darkness. People will be liberated from the shackles of poverty and ignorance. When you give education to youths, you are building a better society because an educated mind is a civilized mind. An educated mind cannot take to crime. He will continue to do things that are noble and good.”

 

Speaking further, Umeh recalled that he started VUMEF back in1999 and formalised it in 2007, out of the need to assist those who were genuinely desirous to further their education but did not have the wherewithal to do so.

 

According to him, the foundation had produced many graduates of different disciplines from Anambra State and beyond, including sister South-East states of Imo, Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu states.

 

Recounting the milestones achieved so far, Senator Umeh said the foundation had produced so many graduates without beating the drums, purely on charitable grounds, without any political undertones.

 

According to him, the first 76 students of his Anambra Central Senatorial District Scholarship Scheme in 2018, comprising 10 persons each from the seven local government areas of Anambra Central and six others selected based on special needs, all became graduates by 2023.

 

He noted that one of the beneficiaries of his foundation from Nanka in Orumba North, Anambra South senatorial district, emerged as the best graduating medical student in the University of Port Harcourt, while another VUMEF product Chisom Malachy Onuorah bagged first class in Law from the Ebonyi State University.

 

Explaining the mode of selection of the latest 326 beneficiaries, he said that all the communities in his senatorial district were asked to nominate two persons each for enrolment through the President Generals of the town unions, bringing the number to 116, before various stakeholders cutting across religious denominations and others he found worthy of help, were enrolled.

 

Also speaking, one of Senator Umeh’s constituents and former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, said having passed through politics and governance and knowing the criminality in government, he saw Senator Victor Umeh’s scholarship project as phenomenal.

 

Describing education as the most important thing someone needed life, Obi noted that the more a country is educated, the more developed it becomes.

 

 

He dismissed insinuations that people went to school and did not find job, saying that such happens in a country that is not productive.

 

He said: “In a country that is productive, those who are educated will use their energy and knowledge to change the scene. The same thing he is doing today is a rare opportunity. There is nothing else you can do. Acquiring house and property is vanity.”

 

Addressing the beneficiaries, Obi said: “One day, you will be on this side, doing what Senator is doing. I met Ojukwu for the first time in my primary 2 when he came to open a library in Onitsha, but in my life time, I flew the same helicopter with him. I stood on the road to receive General Gowon as Head of State of Nigeria. Today, we sit together and discuss.”

 

Earlier, one of the royal fathers that graced the event, H.R. H. Igwe Nick Obi of Nnobi, Idemili South LGA, said he attended the event because Senator Umeh fights for Ndigbo, and prayed for victory for him in his current and future political aspirations.

 

One of the beneficiaries, Ogochukwu Nnajidenwa of the Millenium School of Nursing Awka, Anambra State, expressed gratitude to Senator Umeh for his continuous support for their educational advancement and prayed that God should reward him abundantly.

 

The total amount of N64 million was paid to the 326 beneficiaries for this academic year.

Parents of the beneficiaries who also spoke, thanked Umeh for the gesture and prayed that God should protect him and his family, and give him further elevations in his political career.