An organisation, the Engineer Sunday Babalola Foundation (ESBF) has given N2m scholarship award to 102 indigent students of post-primary and tertiary institutions of Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State. The award, said to be first of its kind, will be continuous, the Founder of the foundation, Sunday Babalola said.

Speaking during the presentation of cash and cheque to the beneficiaries in Omu-Aran, Babalola, said, "We are starting from this community, later to the local government and if we can, we will extend it to the state level. Good students were selected by their principals; they applied and were interviewed."

The founder called on corporate organisations, donors, philanthropists and humanitarian outfits to invest in the advancement of education in Nigeria. The petroleum engineer said, "The award of scholarship to students of secondary and tertiary institutions is for me a fulfillment of my dream and desire to contribute my quota to the educational advancement and uplift of students in my locality.

"God helping me with more resources, I intend to make this scholarship an annual event which will extend to more pupils and students in the local government and even across Kwara State.

"It is a truism that educational growth is the springboard for societal advancement. So the falling standard of education in the country causes my heart to bleed. Gone appears to have been the days when students took interest in academic competitions. Many of them are today engrossed with internet and video pornography to the detriment of their educational growth.

"Many of the students and graduates are merely half baked and cannot compete favourably in the labour market as they are unfit either for employment, lacking requisite skills and knowledge for self employment and self-reliance and sustenance. The situation has worsened the living standard of their families who suffered and spent so much to train them, yet they still depend on their families for upkeep and sustenance even after graduation.

"Many of them have therefore become willing tools for insurgency, kidnapping, armed robbery and other violent crimes and so become threats to societal peace and wellbeing.

"We all must save the situation from degenerating further by investing more in the educational advancement of the Nigerian child.

"While part of the blame goes to the pupils and students, it is also important to note that government at local, state and federal levels have not done enough to ensure quality and accessible education in their respective areas of jurisdiction.

"Many of the students and pupils attend schools hungry as their parents because of the economic downturn cannot feed them adequately. Some of them even come to school with turn and worn-out uniform while some still do not have sandals, books, lockers and chairs!

How then can they learn well and past excellently in their examinations in this pitiable condition?

"Many of the public schools have become hunting ghost, scaring away prospective good students. This situation had therefore made many private schools very academically attractive as only students from rich homes are now availed the opportunity of quality education.

"What becomes the lot of children from indigent homes? It appears that the government has abandoned its core responsibility of ensure quality, and accessible education under the guise of dwindling revenue while the governors, law makers and other political office holders comfortably earn their jumbo salaries and other perquisites.

We therefore must prioritise our national needs and give education the right pride of place if Nigeria must advance and meet up with the global trend. "Governments at all levels must stop paying lip service to education development.

There must be sufficient investments in infrastructure provision, human capital development, security of pupils and students and undergraduates. Teachers and lectures must be well paid while incessant strikes and disruption of academic programs should be avoided in our schools, both tertiary and non-tertiary.

"It is also important for more emphasis to be placed on entrepreneurship development and skill acquisition so as to produce graduates that will create more jobs in the country instead of being job seekers and security risk to the society. In addition, government should address mass failures in external examinations especially in core subjects including English and Mathematics."