AU awards scholarships to 110 postgraduate students

Pic: Prof. Titilayo Akinlabi, Director Pan African University of Life and Earth Sciences Institute, University of Ibadan, with some of the AU sponsored postgraduate students, on Thursday.

The African Union Commission has awarded scholarships to 110 postgraduate students from 45 African countries for various courses at the Pan African University of Life and Earth Sciences Institute, Ibadan.

The Director of the institute, Prof. Titilayo Akinlabi, said this in Ibadan on Thursday at the orientation programme for the new students.

Akinlabi said 2,838 applicants from 47 African applied for the scholarships, out of which 110, representing 3.87 per cent, were selected.

She explained that the institute, located at the University of Ibadan, was established by the Assembly of Heads of State of AU, to provide quality education that would drive development in the continent.

“As you are aware, entrepreneurs are wheels of economic development.

“The Assembly of the Heads of State in Africa would want every student running through Pan African University to have an awareness and be conscious of entrepreneurship as it relates to gender, human rights and African history,” Akinlabi said.

The director said that the institute would equip the students with the best skills to prepare for the future.

He said they would organise seminars and workshops on artificial intelligence, waste to wealth, digital marketing, among others.

The director, therefore, urged the new students to be good ambassadors of their countries and embrace the virtues of compassion and humanity.

Two of the students, Rickson Etindi from Kenya and Eneles Nsamila from Malawi, said they would use the knowledge gained from the postgraduate programme to improve the lots of Africa.