213 indigent students offered scholarship at Anambra Anglican varsity
By Julie Sylvia, Onitsha
No fewer than 213 indigent students have been offered scholarship at the University on the Niger, courtesy of Calvary Care Foundation and Mission of the Anglican Diocese of Onitsha, Anambra State, during dedication and thanksgiving service.
A breakdown of the number indicated that about 176 have already graduated from various tertiary institutions in the country, 117 are currently running and with additional 21 as about 20 non-academic others have graduated in different skills and trades.
In his homily to mark the 11th anniversary of the foundation, the Diocesan Bishop, the Rt Rev Dr Owen Nwokolo, had while appreciating members of the public who he described as wonderful co-partners in the scholarship scheme, remarked that it was the responsibility of man to use his God-given wealth to assist humanity.
Expounding the theme of the sermon, “What I have belongs to God”, Bishop Nwokolo explained that whatever was entrusted to people did not actually belong to them, saying, “We hold such things on trust for God, the owner. We are therefore God’s tenants.
“The Master, our God, owns the whole earth, the inhabitants, all things; animate and inanimate, the visible and invisible, all therefore belong to God, including every human being.
“We are not here on our own , we belong to the One who put us here. But it is our responsibility to take care of what He handed over to us, for we are like bankers, keeping other people’s money. We are mere caretakers.
“We can control, manage, direct and cannot afford to be wasteful because at the end we will reap the reward of what we did with what God entrusted to us. We must give account of what we did with what he asked us to hold on trust for Him,” he said.
The bishop however encouraged people not to be dismayed by any form of hindrances, challenges, oppositions and unfavourable circumstances, advising, “If one door closes, we should try another way,” adding, “After all, God did not promise us beds of roses here on earth”.
He said that irrespective of one’s material circumstances, one ought to use the little one had to improve the conditions of one’s neighbours, insisting, “It is our responsibility to take care of our fellow human beings with what God has handed over to us”.
The chairman of the Foundation, Dame Dr Vivian Onwuekwe, had in a two-page welcome address explained that the organisation was one committed to charity and welfare of less privileged people by way of granting them access to education, business start-offs as well as giving support to Missionary Dioceses.
While thanking members of the public who she said had been giving supportive hands to the foundation towards the realisation of its objectives, she appealed to more people to be actively identified with the organisation, pleading, “We should all try to do something reasonable as God loves a cheerful giver”.
Highpoints of the event included rededication of the scholarship beneficiaries, Ambassadors of the Calvary Chapel ( all children baptized in the chapel) a grand fundraising for the scheme and various renditions by the Calvary Chapel Choir.
