Winners of UNICAF Essay contest laud its positive impacts on Nigeria’s educational system

Due to its affordable, and quality higher education to underserved markets through its online platform, three winners of the UNICAF’s essay competition, have commended various programmes of the online education provider. UNICAF, an online platform which offers degrees to students in Africa and the world, is in collaboration with reputable universities in the UK, US, Europe, and Africa. The online education provider recently organised an essay competition, themed, ‘Higher Education of international quality shaping the leaders of tomorrow in Nigeria and in Africa.’ Speaking with the newsmen at the award ceremony, held at the UNICAF office in Lagos recently, the overall winner of the competition, who is a diction and phonetics teacher from Iyana-Ipaja, Folashade Shodipo, said the UNICAF Scholarship Programme is helping to enhance the higher education system in Nigeria. Shodipo, who won a full scholarship to pursue a Master’s of Business Administration with UNICAF University, with additional monetary reward of N100,000 in cash, said: “It is one of the best ways for Nigerians to get access to higher education through online study, because it is all-encompassing and the teaching personnel is qualified and experienced.” She lamented that University education in Nigeria is getting more expensive every year, but believed that UNICAF as a credible, flexible and affordable choice, will contribute immensely to the growth of the nation’s educational system. Miss Shodipo, however, used the opportunity to charged institutions in the country to emulate the UNICEF’s beautiful idea, so that more African people can have access to affordable and credible higher education. Similarly, the first runner up of the competition, a college teacher from Lagos, Chekwube Okeke, who won a full scholarship to pursue a Professional Development Short Course with UNICAF University, plus N50,000 in cash, said “the younger generation should not give up in the pursuit of higher education, because of how expensive it has become, but they should strive hard to increase their knowledge and skills. He added that information is now at their fingertips, due to digital advancement which could be helpful in searching online for education opportunities, saying that knowledge is power. According to him, “the Nigerian government should help in establishing more online providers of higher learning, and higher education should become more practical, pragmatic and less theoretical.” Okeke expressed great appreciation to UNICAF for the rare opportunity given to him. Second runner-up, Emmanuel Babatope Famokun, a Communications Consultant in Lagos, stressed that UNICAF has really inspired him with the concept of quality higher education made available online, and not confined within the four walls of a classroom. Famokun, who won a full scholarship to pursue a professional Development Short Course with UNICAF University, advised fellow Nigerians to tap into higher education opportunities available through the Internet to get empowered and exposed to many other nationalities and cultures. The UNICAF Scholarship Programme has offered so far scholarships to eligible individuals in Africa and the rest of the world worth more than 90 million USD and has helped change more than 15 thousand lives, through international quality higher education. Motolani Oseni