Over 27,500 Nigerians have benefited
from Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP), since its
inception in 1959, according to the Supervising Minister of Education,
Barr Nyesom Wike.
Speaking in Abuja while declaring open
the 20142015 CSFP selection interview, the minister added that this year
alone, over 1,600 people applied for the scholarship while only 25
persons were successful.
He said, “as you may be aware, the CSFP
was established in 1959, and has since been managed by
the Commonwealth
scholarship Commission (CSC), London. In all, about 27,500 individuals
have benefited from the award of CSFP to pursue advanced academic
studies in other Commonwealth countries.
“The vast majority of award holders have
returned to make significant contributions to their home countries, in
many cases at the higher level, making the award scheme one of the
largest and most prestigious in the world.”
He emphasised the importance of scholars
to return to their home countries as soon as their award comes to an
end, saying, “the objective is for returnees to make differences in
variety of fields, including the academia, government, private sector
and international organisations and by so doing strengthen our
institutions and bring about the desired development we long for.”
Director of the Federal Scholarship
Board, Ms Ifeoma Agunwah, said over 1,600 applied through the Electronic
Application System, EAS.
She revealed that the criteria set by
the commission for this year include academic merit of candidates,
quality of proposals, likely impacts of candidate’s work on the
development of their home country and good knowledge of national and
international affairs.
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