From Ibrahim Kaulahi, Gusau
A Lagos State-based Zakat and Sadaqat foundation has distributed the sum of 750,000 naira being scholarship to smooth the studies of 22 orphan students selected from various secondary schools in Zamfara State.
Distributing the scholarship, the founder of the organization, Prince Suleman Olagunju, said the aim was to help acquire an educated society with a view to reduce the threatening rate of unemployment and crime amongst the teeming youths across the nation.
Prince Olagunju who was represented by the Director of the foundation, Dr. Yusuf Adelekun, further revealed that, the gesture has been extended to 27 states of the federation including Abuja where massive beneficiaries are carrying their studies under the sponsorship of the foundation.
According to him, the foundation has its only Islamic way of funds raising through Zakat and Sadaqat collection from well to do business individuals and civil servants across the nation who willingly wanted to purify their wealth and pay their contributions towards the development of education in the country.
“We started operations since 1991 with the collections and distributions of very meagre amounts to small number of orphans and less privileged sponsored students within Lagos State alone, later there were improvement that led to the extention of the gestures to other states.
“This year, we are able to have generated 400 million naira mostly been realised across Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Osun and Oyo states, a great opportunity that facilitate our operations to 27 states across the country, and this has actually spurred our foundation to shortlisted more beneficiaries”, Dr. Adelekun has stressed.
He further called on the beneficiaries, to be more focused on their studies despite all challenges therein and ensure that their names should always paste in the list of clever and hard-working students, saying their excellent performances will attract more contributions from the foundation.
Earlier, the State Coordinator of the foundation, Malam Ibrahim Tudu, assured that, the achievements of the organization in Zamfara State will be well publicized to the extent a number of rich individuals and by extention the teeming staffers in the State and Local Governments will begin to pay their charities.