L-R; NAAS Vice-President, Ladejobi Kikelomo; the President, Titilola Munkail presenting the tuition fees to the Dean, Student Affairs, Prof. Sam Oluwalana and Deputy Director, Mr. Peter Akinlabi.
Members of the Nigerian Association of Agricultural Students (NAAS), FUNAAB Branch, have demonstrated rare sense of philanthropy, by paying the tuition fees of three of their colleagues.
The President of NAAS, Mr.Titilola Munkail, disclosed this fact, in a chat with FUNAAB Bulletin.
According to the President, the Association released the sum of N45,000.00, which was disbursed to three students at N15,000.00 each, to enable them pay their school fees.
Munkail stated that the gesture was in recognition of the poor
financial state of the beneficiaries and the need by the Association to mitigate their challenges.
His words: “we are aware of the economic downturn in the country. We are also aware of the fact that some fellow students are living in abject poverty, such that payment of school fees is a teething problem.
This may be as a result of their parents’ or guardians’ poor financial standing. Some are products of broken homes. We felt the need to assist in our own little way by paying their school fees and this we did to the glory of God”, he stressed.
Speaking further, the soft-spoken Munkail revealed that the gesture had been on for years, adding that arrangements had been worked-out, to ensure sustenance by successive NAAS executive councils.
Munkail hinted that NAAS actually got its inspiration from the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Oluwafemi Olaiya Balogun, whom he said is unrivalled in the payment of school fees of indigent students and for his soft spot for the physically-challenged.
Responding to NAAS gesture, the Dean, Student Affairs, Prof. Sam Oluwalana, described it as a welcome development that should be emulated by similar Associations on campus.
Prof. Oluwalana stressed that NAAS had also been engaged in mediatory roles in ending the rift between landlords and tenants who are fellow students, adding that members of the Association often accompanied him to Police Stations whenever students have issues, prompting urgent action.