Bitrus Kaze’s Scholarship Award Enters Second Year

Legislators in Nigeria have learnt to come to terms with the misunderstanding of the nature of their roles in the administration of the country by many of the folks they represent. A legislature’s responsibility is to make relevant legislation that will help in administering the constituency he represents. The people however don’t understand the difference between the roles of the legislators and the executive. They also expect the legislators to carry out projects. Since the legislators would not want to fall victims of ballot denial as a result of the ignorance of the people, they have resorted to satisfying some of these needs of the people they represent. There are also those who just feel the need to assist, considering the dire need for such assistance in the communities they represent. Such persons go to the extent of using their personal incomes to attend to such needs. The ignorance of the constituents has given rise to constituency allowance usually given officially to legislators to help them attend to these needs.

Honorable Bitrus Kaze is a Member Representing Jos South and East constituencies at the House of Representatives in Abuja. In order to live up to the unconstitutional demand of the people he represents, he last year started a scholarship programme for needy students of his constituency. The Personal Assistant of Honorable Kaze, Pam Dalyop, explained that in 2008, the first year of the programme, a total of 240 students studying at various institutions of higher learning benefitted from the programme. This year, an additional 60 students have been added to raise the total to 300. He says the scholarship is part of the broad effort towards community development as one way of achieving community development is to have an enlightened population that can work and cater for themselves and their extended family circles as is the tradition in Africa.

Dalyop praised his boss whom he referred to as “a law maker with a purpose” who wouldn’t want to make public his activities for the people as he believes his works will speak for him. All he wants from the people is their maximum support to enable him carry on with the responsibility to his people excellently.

A first year medical student of the University of Jos, Kim Dalyop Danboyi who came out of the constituency office with his hands loaded with one thousand naira bills said the initiative is of immense significance as long as students use the money for the purpose for which it is meant. He said he is not going to use his money to buy an expensive mobile phone or a set of fashionable jeans trousers like most students do. He has had a book, Biological Sciences, in mind and intends to use 65% of this allowance to buy that book. The money he says can also be used for the payment of tuition fees, particularly by students in the Polytechnic whose tuitions are highly subsidized. The medical student used himself as a proof to the fact that Kaze’s scholarship is real and admonished students to ensure that the money is put into proper use to help them in their studies.