New Perks for Tobacco Farmers

Source from:  This Day (Lagos) Affia Okon 11/11/2004

Some perks come along readily once a multinational company is in your neighborhood. Niger delta regions will readily agree to this. They are beneficiaries of different scholarships and micro credit schemes from companies like Shell and Mobil. Last week, the natives of Iseyin in Oyo state got a pinch of this kind of perks. Iseyin, the small village in Oyo State within a short time is now a nucleus of some sort for British America Tobacco Nigeria. (BATN) The Reason? The village is home for the tobacco company's agronomy; a boundless expanse of land set aside for tobacco farming, where the company gets its key ingredient; tobacco leaf, for the production of its various brands of cigarettes. Since its establishment, the Iseyin agronomy has become an indispensable part of BATN. Perhaps, it is for this reason that the company decided to introduce some sort of scholarship scheme for the tobacco farmer's children. On October 27th 2004, five of the farmer's children were awarded scholarships by the company to help complement the farmer's efforts in educating their children. Moshood Shittu, Sunday Ojelade, Mutiu Amuda, Solomon Awujuola and Sikiru Akeem were the first batch of recipients of the British America Iseyin Agronomy scholarship award. (BATIA). If you are one of those who expect tobacco farmer's children to look shabby and reek of tobacco, then these boys will come as a surprise to you. They came for the small ceremony organized on their behalf with the same shiny foreheads, looking clean and well dressed. Mutiu was the tallest in the group. He was light skinned. Solomon was dark skinned and lanky. Moshood was the shortest, but had more confidence than the others. Sikiru behaved rather shyly and avoided speaking unless questions were thrown directly at him. One similarity you may have noticed if you were at the ceremony was the way they clung to their certificates and cheques after it was issued. It was as if the pieces of papers were lifesavers. Just by mere looking at them, you cannot make out anything from their faces on how they feel being pioneer recipients of this scholarship scheme, because their faces lack any form of expression. But on speaking with Moshood, an Agric Economics student of Ladoke Akintola University of technology, you will be able to tell. He describes his joy as inexpressible, "I wish you could open my heart and see how I feel inside", he said grinning widely. It was the first smile I had seen on him since the ceremony began. "This", raising the cheque and certificate to create more emphasis, "this is going to change a lot of things for me" he continues. He described his challenges at school as being almost unbearable owing to his parent's inability to cater for necessary kits he needs for school. Mutiu an Economics student of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ABU Zaria) also spoke on what the award means to him. Quickly blurting out, he said, "I come from a very poor family, I cannot deny it, my father is a farmer. My going to school has been very difficult for them. This scholarship will help me a lot" Unlike the other recipients, Mutiu expressed more emotions concerning the award and was eager to give a hindsight on how he came to be awarded the scholarship. "Ha! It was not easy, but, I give thanks to almighty Allah, I was not the only one there but I got picked. We were 75 of us that started, out of that, they chose 15 people. We went for another interview and they picked five people and I was one of them. I am happy for this support; this kind of support will boost me up and give me more confidence in school" 23year old Solomon, a Mechanical engineering student at the Polytechnic Ibadan is also full of thanks. He says the award would put an end to the many "stress" he and his family have had to go through since he admission into the polytechnic. The five recipients were full of gratitude and commended the company's effort admitting that the sponsorship scheme was coming at a time they were in dire need of it. Speaking on the criteria for selection, Alexander Ibehve, BAT Manager for organizational development talent and culture says, the award was given to the farmers children who had the highest potentials after they had gone through series of aptitude test and interviews. "We looked out for children of our farmers who were most deserving of the scholarship, those who were bright, already in school and needed the kind of assistance we were offering. We put them through an aptitude test and a speed test to test their mentality and an interview. At the interview level, we were looking at their attitude towards life, what their career plans are like and their leadership/entrepreneurial skills. We awarded the scholarship to the ones we felt had the highest potentials in these areas. The BAT Iseyin Agronomy scholarship award is designed for undergraduates who must be over the ages of 18 years old and have secured admission in a university or polytechnic. It entitles the beneficiaries to N50,000 during each academic session for four years. In establishing the scholarship, the company's vision is to provide an incentive to capable students in their quest for academic excellence from the farming community. With this partnership with the community, Flora Okereke the company's legal director on behalf of the company says the company is determined to make a very positive impact and commit more funds to educational development. In the coming year the number of awardees will be increased. She however advised the pioneer awardees to make good use of the opportunity and not disappoint the trust repose upon them. Enditem