Dike Onwuamaeze
The Executive Director of CIG Motors Group, Mr. Arogundade Bankole, has doled out scholarship awards to 25 Nigerian university undergraduates during the “Jubril of Lagos Scholarship Award Ceremony 2025.”
Bankole, who is the “Jubril of Lagos,” said that the scholarship award is his own way of giving back to the society as a fellow recipient of scholarship award that enabled him to study Information Technology at the Eastern Mediterranean University of Cyprus.
He said that it was scholarship award that opened the doors of foreign university to him when his mother could not afford to sponsor his quest for tertiary education after finishing his O’Level with 7As.
He said: “Education is very important and giving education to people is like giving them hope.
“I work as an executive director of CIG Motors Group that assembles, sells automobiles. We are now into partnership with the Lagos State Government for the LagRide project.”
“I presently act as the Acting Managing Director of LagRide.
“This scholarship project is not a one-off event. I am a person who understands the power of education and how it can transform lives.
“I was born and raised in Ajegunle. I used to trek to school and back climbing refuse dump on daily basis for years. I missed admission to study in Canada and The United Kingdom because of lack of money. I applied for scholarship and got a full scholarship from Cyprus for four years because my NECO result was very good. I had 7As.
“There is nothing you cannot do. Get education and get a better life for yourself.”
Bankole, who is also the acting managing director of LagRide, told the awardees that opportunity will always come but the challenge is the level of their individual hunger for success, which would determine how they would seize opportunities and turn them around for their own good.
He said: “Whatever I am today is as a result of my hunger. And I am still hungry because I have not arrived.”
“You have to get a first class or 2.1 minimum. That is the only way you can pay yourself back and pay me back. A job is waiting for you because your technical knowhow will open doors for you.”
The Chief Executive Officer of PressPayNg, Mr. Abiola Metilelu, said that the ceremony signified “a birthday of transformation and several opportunities for the 25 amazing scholars,” adding that PressPayNg would continue to accelerate ambition of children from low income families.
Metilelu said that the mission of PressPayNg “is to ensure that we democratise access to education. We have chosen the education sector and are driving conversation with different stakeholders, one you have seen today, the Jubril of Lagos, and I believe that this is the beginning of many more things to unfold.”
The Deputy High Commissioner of Canada to Nigeria, Mr. Carlos Rojas-Arbulu, enjoined the awardees to use their scholarship to advance the course of their lives.
He said: “You are ambassadors and representing the Jubril of Lagos, which comes with responsibility. Use that responsibility for good to advance your course and professional development. But do not forget to hold hands with the person next to you whether he is a friend or family member.”
Speaking in the same vein, the Founder of Service Arts and Hospitality Academy, Ms. Benedicta Ogar, who was a beneficiary of scholarship that enabled her to study Hospitality Operations, said: “I can tell you this can open many doors for you. I later did management training in Disney Land in Paris and also at International School of Hospitality in Las Vegas, California.”
“This can be the beginning of so much more but it depends on your commitment. I can appreciate what it means to hold the door open for somebody else.”
A teacher in Catholic Comprehensive School, Ibara, Abeokuta, Mr. Sunday Akinsola, whose son, Paul, an undergraduate of Medicine and Surgery, University of Lagos, was one of the beneficiaries, said: “I highly appreciate Jubril for this scholarship award to my son and I pray that God Almighty will replenish him.”
Leave a comment