Goodluck Tasks MTNF Music Scholars

15th December, 2010 - 3:07 PM

Director, MTN Foundation, Mr. Wale Goodluck has charged the second set of graduates of the prestigious MUSON School of Music to be good ambassadors of the institution.  The graduates are the second set of beneficiaries of the MTN Foundation's music scholarship programme at the MUSON School of Music. 

The scholars, numbering 24, bagged music diplomas in various aspects of Music at the ceremony held on 2nd July, 2009 at the Agip Recital Hall, MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos. The MTNF-MUSON Music Scholarship programme was instituted to provide students with a flair for music the opportunity to acquire qualitative music education leading to the MUSON Diploma in Music

Congratulating the music graduates, Goodluck advised them to keep up the brilliance shown in their examinations and be good ambassadors of this great music institution everywhere they go. 
His words: We are happy to witness another milestone in the implementation of this programme. We congratulate the scholars on the successful completion of their courses and thank them for making us proud.

The Chairman of MUSON Board of Trustees, Chief Femi Adeniyi-Williams described the new graduands as a group of highly dedicated scholars who made the school proud through their performance in the examinations.

The practical arm of the final Associated Board of Royal School of Music (ABRSM) exams was done in Ghana and I am proud to say that our students all made Grade - 8 distinctions, which is the highest mark in the exams, said Chief Adeniyi-Williams. He thanked the MTN Foundation for giving the students the opportunity to prove their worth by providing sponsorship for them. He also lauded the Foundation for increasing the intake of students for the new session. He urged other corporate bodies to emulate the Foundation.

The first set of students who graduated in 2008 are now music professionals already making their marks in their chosen areas of specialization. While some of them have secured immediate employment others have gained admission into prestigious higher institutions across the world, such as the University of Dayton, America and the University of Cape Town, South Africa to further their studies in Music.

In July 2008, the first set made up of 21 students graduated with music diplomas. With the graduation of the second set of beneficiaries, a total number of 45 students have so far benefitted from the programme, out of the 220 who will be trained by the Foundation in a five year period. This represents 4 sets of students.

One of the beneficiaries of the MTN Foundation scholarship, Adinnu Stanley who won the MTNF overall Best Student Award thanked MTN for offering him a platform to further his education and make an impact in life.  Stanley plans to register for a Sandwich programme in Music at the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Ijanikin and to obtain a B. Sc and Master degrees in Music Education.

The MTNF-MUSON Music Scholars programme is an initiative under the Education portfolio of the MTN Foundation. Other major initiatives of the portfolio include the MTNF SchoolsConnect project, which is helping to bridge the digital divide by providing secondary schools with fully equipped digital laboratories, and UniversitiesConnect project which is providing digital libraries for higher institutions across the country.
MTNF's SchoolsConnect Initiative, which is in partnership with SchoolNet Nigeria, has touched the lives of over 100,000 students and 5,000 teachers in 49 schools across 12 states including the FCT.
The MTNF UniversitiesConnect project, in partnership with NetLibrary Nigeria, has been implemented in UNILAG, Akoka, Lagos; ABU, Zaria, Kaduna & UNN, Nsukka, Enugu with the University of Benin, to benefit in 2009. Under a project tagged MTNF Learning Support Materials Initiative, which was flagged off over 3 years ago, MTNF donated 44,808 exercise books, 7,316 school bags and 11,620 toys to 189 primary and secondary schools nationwide in 2008 alone. In addition, 6,000 pupils and 600 teachers in selected schools in the six geo-political zones of the country will benefit from the MTNF Learning Facility Supply Project, an intervention where the Foundation provides modern desks and benches, and tables and chairs to needy schools.
Hundreds of other schools in the six geo-political zones of the country have already begun to receive small and big branded exercise books, school bags, and rain coats since the beginning of the year.
Other portfolios of the Foundation include health and economic empowerment.