JAMB highest scorer
•Gets N100,000 scholarship
By TOYIN OSAWE
Tuesday, January 30, 2007

A lifeline has come the way of a 38-year-old cleaner with the Benue State University, Makurdi, as he got a Cowbell-JAMB scholarship worth N100,000 having emerged the highest scorer in the year 2006 Universities Matriculation Exam (UME).
Mr. Lyamngee Agir, who scored 330 in the exam, will be studying History at the same university where he works on a N10,000 monthly salary as cleaner.

Speaking at the award presentation ceremony, an elated Agir was full of gratitude to God and Promasidor Nigeria Limited, manufacturers of Cowbell Milk, the brand which sponsors the scholarship.

“I thank the Almighty God for giving me more than I asked for. It was the Cowbell advert in the JAMB brochure that got me started and I prayed to get this scholarship. I thank Promasidor for this scholarship, thank you Cowbell for making life better for me.”
Advising the other 29 winners (20 in the UME category and 10 in the MPCE category), Agir charged them to see the scholarship as a stepping stone to higher academic achievements. And for intending UME applicants, he had this word of advice; “lay aside your fears and prepare to face the exam.”
For Agir who became orphaned at the age of 22, he says the scholarship is indeed a blessing.

“I’m the first child in my family, with 29 siblings (not counting the mothers). I lost my dad in 1990 when I was 22. With his demise, I became the father of the house and I’m from a very poor background, so my ambition of university education was truncated then. However, I wrote JAMB in 1999 and scored 234 to study Public Administration. But somehow my admission letter got lost and I never got the admission, so I made up my mind not to try again until the last one, when I saw the Cowbell Scholarship advert.”
Agir, who belongs to the Evangelical Church of West Africa denomination, recalls that he prayed a special prayer to God to win, because he needed the fund despirately if his dream of university education were to come to pass.

“I prayed specially to win this because I was thinking of where I will get the funding for my first year at least before applying for any scholarship from the state.”

Also grateful for another chance at university education was 47-year-old Mr. Adebowale O. Maliki, another top scorer with 324 marks. As a security man, the scholarship will go a long way in helping him realise his ambition of reading Civil Law at the Lagos State University.

Expressing his delight at the occasion, the chief executive of Promasidor Nigeria Limited, said the scholarships were part of the company’s social responsibility programme.

“This is our own way of giving something back to the society by supporting and promoting academic excellence, including healthy competition, amplifying interest in JAMB and ultimately the overall performance of Nigerian students.”

Also speaking at the occasion, Mrs. Ileka, who represented the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) registrar, congratulated the awardees, asking them to see themselves not only as ambassadors for JAMB, Cowbell, Nigeria and the youths, but as hope for those that are yet to write the exam.

For the 30 winners who smiled home with N100,000 each, the award ceremony gave them ample opportunity to celebrate their scholarships as they had the rare priviledge of dancing with the top executives of Promasidor and other dignitaries that were present like, Mr. Charlie Thompson, Creative Director of the company, Prof. Soga Sofola, Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Chukwuemeka Emechete, Liaison officer, National Universities Commission office, Lagos and Dr.Mrs. N.I. Azika, who represented the rector, Yaba College of Technology.
The event was made quite lively by the rib cracking jokes of veteran compere, Patrick Doyle and comedian Okey Bakassi.