No fewer than 30 physically-challenged persons across Nigeria got financial help at the first edition of the Mohammed Fawehinmi Scholarship Award in Lagos.
The beneficiaries received the scholarships on Friday in Lagos during an annual lecture in honour of the late legal practitioner, Mohammed Fawehinmi, who was the son of the late renowned human rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi.
The Chairman of the Mohammed Fawehinmi Annual Lecture and Scholarship Programme, Yinka Olatunji, said the late Mohammed Fawehinmi lived his life pursuing justice for the underprivileged, hence, the idea of a scholarship to lift the indigent members of society.
Olatunji said, “This programme is aimed at contributing to the evolution of a better egalitarian society and the promotion of social justice, good governance, and civil liberties. The underprivileged, the masses, and the beggars were Moh’s people. He took care of them. He fed them and gave scholarships to their children. He gave financial assistance to their parents for their businesses to ensure their survival at critical times in the Nigerian economy.
“In line with his philosophy, the Mohammed Fawehinmi Scholarship Award was inaugurated in 2022. The conditions for receiving the award are that awardees from across Nigeria must be brilliant but disabled. Thirty Nigerians have been selected to receive financial assistance, and they will be handed sums of money for that purpose.”
Speaking on the theme “The Removal of Fuel Subsidy and Their Impact on the Nigerian Masses,” a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Wahab Shittu urged the government to ensure transparency and build more social welfare programmes to ease the adverse effect of subsidy removal on Nigerians.
“The Federal Government should set down policies to fulfill the rationale behind the subsidy removal as identified. The state government should also help to assist their people,” Shittu said.
The spokesperson for the Obi/Datti Presidential Campaign, Yunusa Tanko, argued that the ruling All Progressives Congress was ill-prepared for governance.
Tanko said, “This is a grossly unprepared leadership that took over power without knowing what to do with it. We have an ill-prepared government that is not offering solutions to the pain and suffering it has caused the people. This is exactly what the situation is. If the issue of the modular refinery had already been institutionalised in Nigeria, we would not have the issue of fuel scams.”
