The National Association of Industrial Pharmacists (NAIP), Kano State chapter has inaugurated an academic award for best graduating students of pharmaceutical science as part of efforts to encourage excellence among pharmacy students and arouse the interest of others in the study of the course.

 

For now, the scholarship award is restricted to only four tertiary institutions that offer pharmacy in the North, out of the 16 universities in the country that offer the course.

The benefiting institutions are Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, Usman Danfodio University Sokoto (UDUSOK), University of Jos (UNIJOS) and University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID).

Inaugurating the N200,000 scholarship scheme at its 6th  Annual Symposium and Business Summit Tuesday, chairman of the state branch of the association, Bala Maikudi, emphasised that the project was initiated to support students who are choosing a career in the field of pharmacy.

 

“Our intention is to encourage more students to study pharmacy just as we remain committed to supporting those already in the profession. We want to create an enabling environment for young pharmacists so that would soon realise that they are in the best profession in the world. With a token of N50, 000 for the four best graduating students in the four institutions, we hope to sustain it and even do more to build more interest.

“At the same time we would like to call on government and individuals to initiate similar gesture on their own. Our plan is to expand and create more schemes that would create more opportunities. But it is obvious we cannot stretch beyond our capacity. This is the reason we would solicit and even advocate similar positive initiatives,” Maikudi noted.