The Orji Uzor Kalu Foundation has announced a fully-funded scholarship for 700 Nigerians across Nigeria’s 36 states during the 2021-2022 academic year, Sun News reported.
The OUK Foundation is a Nigeria-based non-profit that contributes to national development through critical interventions and human development.
It was founded by Nigerian media mogul and politician Orji Uzor Kalu. He is the chairman of SLOK Holding and the owner of the nationally acclaimed newspapers, Daily Sun and New Telegraph.
A one-time governor of Abia State, Kalu presently serves as a senator in the national assembly.
In a statement through his media aide, Maduka Okoro, Kalu said the foundation seeks to provide quality healthcare services and improved health conditions for Nigerians through the scholarship.
“The scholarship scheme offers beneficiaries the opportunity to pursue courses in the medical discipline obtainable from both foreign and Nigerian universities,” Okoro said. “In our mutual interest and quest for quality, affordable and accessible health care delivery, the scholarship intervention offers hope for our brilliant but indigent youth to attain their lofty goals in life.”
The scholarship scheme was developed on the basis of a 2018 Lancet ranking of global healthcare access and quality, which ranked Nigeria 142 of 195 countries.
Through the initiative, the media mogul hopes to provide quality, affordable and accessible healthcare services to Nigerians, especially those residing in rural communities.
The first 50 will be on fully-funded scholarships in highly-rated medical schools in Venezuela.
The foundation will assist 650 others to gain admission into select Nigerian universities across the nation as part of the fully-funded scholarship.
