A Nollywood actress Miss Tonto Dikeh, on Tuesday disclosed that her foundation, Tonto Dikeh Foundation (TDF), has awarded scholarship to 345 indigent students in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) within six months. Dikeh told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the gesture was to enable her contribute her quota to the intellectual development of youths in the country. She said the students were sponsored under the foundation’s back to school project. She said that offi cials of the foundation go from one state to another in search of indigent students who needed assistance. She said the foundation recently awarded scholarship to 200 students in Delta state. She added that Cross River would be the next state that would benefi t from the gesture.
Dikeh said that some indigent students from Lagos state had also benefi tted from the project. She said: “the project was conceived with the idea of assisting the less privileged in realisation of the United Nations sustainable development goals in the area of education and mass literacy in Nigeria. “
Th e Tonto Dikeh Foundation focuses on giving support to young girls who have been raped, molested or assaulted by giving hope to such young girls and providing help to them through our partners. “Depending on their individual cases some rape cases result in pregnancy; so we support them during ante-natal and postnatal period and we mentor these young women so they can fit into the society again.
“The scholarship is meant to give Nigerian children the opportunity to be educated since education is key to human and national development.’’ Dikeh said that 300 students in Karamajiji community, a suburb along Airport road in Abuja were given scholarship to further their education from primary to university level. She said that the SSCE and JAMB fees of the benefitting students were paid by the foundation. She called on well meaning Nigerians to use their resources to assist the less privileged especially the physically challenged.
