Turaki Produces Scholars as Sponsored Students Top Their Levels at UNILORIN

At the commencement of every academic session, the same quiet anxiety descends on countless homes across Kwara Central – the heart of the State of Harmony. The admission letter has arrived, resumption is imminent, yet someone at the family table is doing arithmetic that refuses to balance. A father recounts the meagre returns from his shop as mother contemplates which of her wrappers to sell. And the child – who did everything right and passed – sits there, feeling like a burden.

As Secretary to the Senator Saliu Mustapha Education Support Project, I have encountered many families in that exact situation. What follows is my personal account and honest appraisal of the project and its impact.

Picture that same child two years later, standing in a hall at the University of Ilorin as his or her name is called among the best students in the institution. That, in essence, is the story of this scholarship.

Now imagine another child in similar circumstance elsewhere, unlucky not to have a Turaki, hawking sachets of pure water on the streets to survive. What becomes of his or her future?

Scores of our beneficiaries have emerged as overall best in their respective levels at UNILORIN and have been decorated as University Scholars. Many more are sustaining First Class grades at the in institution and other partner versities. These are not children of privilege. They are the same boys and girls whose parents once did those painful calculations at the table.

None of this happened by accident. Senator Saliu Mustapha conceived and facilitated this intervention for his constituents as the Senator representing Kwara Central Senatorial District. The first cohort of 200 students was enrolled in 2024, and an additional 400 followed in 2025. Today, 600 young people across the University of Ilorin, Kwara State University, Kwara State University of Education, and the University of Offa are in school because of it – with their tuition fully covered till graduation.

That last point deserves emphasis. It is easy to sponsor a single session and convene a press conference. It is an entirely different commitment to stay with a student for four, five, or six years, depending on the duration of the course, long after the banners have been pulled down. Only a leader who genuinely believes in education does that.

And see what the students have done with the opportunity. They did not relent because their fees were paid. They studied. They stayed late in the library. They strived and clinched the top positions. I find that the most moving part of the entire story, because it proves that the hunger for excellence was always there. All it required was for someone to lift the burden of fees and allow them to face their books.

People often ask what legislative empowerment should look like. From where I stand, this is the answer. Not everything should be shared and exhausted in one afternoon. Some investments endure. Ten years from now, there will be doctors in our hospitals, engineers on our construction sites, and teachers in our classrooms who will tell you it was this scholarship that saw them through school.

And the project is not slowing down. As the 2026/27 academic session commences and fresh students gain admission into our universities, many are hoping to benefit from the scheme. For hundreds of them, that hope will become reality. Many more beneficiaries will be selected for the 2026/27 edition of the scholarship. So, to every fresh student in Kwara Central and every parent with a child resuming this session, be attentive. Watch out for the announcement, prepare for the call, and do not let this golden opportunity slip by.

To our University Scholars and all those sustaining First Class honours – well done. You have vindicated the investment. Do not drop the ball.

To the Senator, thank you. You have given these families peace of mind and a reason to be proud.

And to the good people of Kwara Central, my charge is simple: there are still many brilliant children in Ilorin West, Ilorin East, Ilorin South and Asa yearning for the same chance, and a project of this magnitude needs time to reach them all. When the time comes, let us re-elect Senator Saliu Mustapha to do even more. If hundreds of students can be lifted in such a short time, imagine what another term can achieve.

Yakub Ishowo is the Secretary to the Saliu Mustapha Education Project