Yemisi Izuora
Oil giant ExxonMobil has in the last four years, voted over N57 million to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation/Mobil Producing Nigeria, joint venture, (NNPC/MPN JV) secondary school scholarship specifically targeting indigent students from Akwa Ibom State.
Similarly it has spent over N4 billion on undergraduate scholarship to Nigerian students.
The company said in a release that 50 per cent of this amount or N2 billion went to students from Akwa Ibom State.
According to John Arkely, General Manager, Joint Venture Operations at Mobil Producing Nigeria, ExxonMobil has a long history of partnership with the government and people of Akwa Ibom State in the area of education.
Arkely, who spoke of a recent launch of the ExxonMobil Academic Excellence Reward Programme for public primary schools in Akwa Ibom State, said it is aimed at supporting and encouraging academic pursuit by children in government-owned primary schools by identifying those who are performing well and rewarding them.
Through this initiative, ExxonMobil has provided school bags with mathematical sets, pencil pouches, water bottles and exercise books to the best 10 academically performing pupils in each class from primary one to six across 85 schools.
The selection was transparently done in conjunction with the State Ministry of Education and Akwa Ibom State Universal Basic Education Board.
According to Arkely, “no fewer than 5,100 pupils selected from the 85 public primary schools of the four catchment local government areas of ExxonMobil’s operation – Eket, Ibeno, Esit Eket and Onna – benefited from the scheme”.
Arkely said that the “programme is aimed at supporting and encouraging excellence in public primary schools by identifying high performers, recognising and encouraging the achievers.”
Other achievements of ExxonMobil in the area of education include over N1 billion spent on provision of NNPC/EEPNL (EEPNL is Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited – an ExxonMobil subsidiary company) international postgraduate scholarship to Nigerian students in the last two decades; 500 undergraduate scholarship yearly, over 8000 benefitted in the last 2 decades.