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The High Chiefs Bode and Betty Osedimilehin Foundation has awarded scholarships to more than 250 students in Ondo and Osun States, expanding its education intervention to public schools, technical colleges and medical programmes.

The beneficiaries are from Owo, Ose, Akure North and Akure South Local Government Areas of Ondo State, as well as Ile-Ife in Osun State.

The scholarship programme, which began in 2024, entered its third edition this year as the foundation widened its intervention to support education and human capital development.

Speaking at the Akure ceremony, the Executive Coordinator of the foundation, Osedimilehin Dele Johnson, said the intervention was aimed at investing in the future of the beneficiaries.

“Today, we are not simply presenting financial assistance. We are investing in dreams. We are saying to every beneficiary: Your education matters. Your potential matters. Your future matters,” Johnson said.

He urged the students to maximise the opportunity and use their education to contribute to their communities.

The foundation’s founders, High Chiefs Bode and Betty Osedimilehin, who joined the event virtually from Australia, also urged the beneficiaries to make good use of the scholarship and, in future, support others in need.

The immediate past Director-General of the Ondo State Project Performance Implementation and Monitoring Unit, Engr. Razaq Obe, said education remained a major driver of individual and societal development.

According to him, Education is the bedrock of every society and it remains the most significant tool to transform lives and advance nations.

He called for greater investment in education, noting that its benefits extended beyond individual beneficiaries to communities and society.

Also, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Scholarship, Alhaji Samad Orijeminiyi, commended the foundation for sustaining the programme for three years.

He urged the beneficiaries to perform well, saying their achievements would encourage the sponsors to expand the scheme.

“The value you draw from this scheme will be the main encouragement for the sponsors to do more,” Orijeminiyi said.

He also pledged to draw the attention of
the Ondo State Government to the foundation’s sustained contributions to education in the state.

The final phase of the 2026 scholarship awards was held in Ile-Ife, Osun State, on September 26, in collaboration with the palace of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Babatunde Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, as part of activities marking the Olojo Festival.

The foundation said 40 beneficiaries were selected from 20 public schools in Ile-Ife.

It added that the programme was designed to reduce the burden of education costs on beneficiaries while contributing to human capital development in its host communities.

EnDs