The Muslim Community of Lagos State (MCLS) has flagged off a scheme to award scholarships to Muslims undertaking doctorate studies across tertiary institutions in the country.

Speaking at the event, President of the Muslim Community of Lagos State, Prof. Tajudeen Gbadamosi, said the scholarship covers the tuition fees and other official fees and costs for research work and production of the final thesis.

“The mission cum vision of this scheme is to help and build up our human capital to energise the growth and development of our country. As some scholars have said, PhD holders are catalysts of development. They are researchers who can drive innovation, analyse problems and provide solutions for all sectors of human activity.

“The PhD award is available to brilliant students who are financially challenged and have been allowed by the university to proceed to PhD work. It is an expensive venture, but we believe it is a noble venture to encourage our brilliant youths to get the necessary training and expertise that would enable them not only to stand on their own but also to make their contributions to the development of the country,” he said.

Gbadamosi lamented the low percentage of Muslim PhD holders in Nigeria and emphasised the need to move faster in bridging the gap.

“As of 2023, it was estimated that Nigeria has 80,000 PhD holders and probably, the figure may be around 100,000 now at most. The developed countries such as America, Canada and many European countries each produce between 20,000 to 70,000 PhD yearly. Indeed, Japan has 125 PhD holders per 1 million people and plans to triple this figure by 2040. Our country with 80,000 PhD holders to 240 million people has a long distance to cover to get near these developed countries.”

He urged influential Muslims in Lagos State and all over the country to support the initiative both morally and financially.

The guest speaker, Senator (Dr.) Idiat Adebule charged the beneficiaries to stay committed and be great ambassadors of Islam during their programmes.

“I urge you all to stay committed to the academic programme (PhD). You have all signed up for this, so it’s important to show commitment. Similarly, as Muslims, wherever you are undertaking your programme, people should see Islam in you. You are a mirror of the Muslim ummah. You should make the Muslim community proud of you. Please, shun things that are contrary to the teachings of Islam — whether openly or secretly,” the Senator representing Lagos West Constituency noted.

Chairman on the occasion, Prince Tajudeen Olusi, explained that the scheme seeks to encourage Muslims to attain the peak of academics, noting that the current number of PhD holders who are Muslims in Nigeria is not encouraging.

“This initiative was designed to assist Muslims in the area of education. We have specifically chosen PhD for the scholarship opportunity because it is a very special area.”

It is our way of encouraging our people and assisting them to get to the peak of academic education. The number of people undertaking PhD within the Muslim community is not much. So, we want to use this to encourage our Muslim brothers and sisters.”

Chairman, Planning Committee of the PhD Scholarship Award, Dr Naimdeen Ekemode, said a lot of Muslims undertaking PhD face financial constraints, noting the Muslim Community of Lagos State has decided to mobilise resources to support them through the scheme.

Ekemode said the community is targeting an increase in the number of beneficiaries in the next edition.

He said, “From our survey, we found out that less than 10 percent of the lecturers in higher institutions in Lagos State are Muslims. Muslims are, however, in the majority when we look at the population of Lagos.

“So, when we examined it further, we found that we the Muslim community in Lagos State have to help our children who are undertaking PhD programme. We believe a lot of them have financial constraints, hence, we decided to mobilise resources to offer them scholarships. We are starting with ten (10) beneficiaries. By next year, we hope to improve the number to 50, 100 or even more.

“This initiative is also to stimulate our children to be determined and face their challenges so that they would be useful to society.”

One of the beneficiaries, Rayhana Davies-Sanni, said the scholarship opportunity would go a long way to assist her research and PhD programme.

She expressed gratitude to Almighty Allah and the organisers, saying the gesture was overwhelming for her.

“The opportunity will assist me because I’m presently doing my research work which is very tasking and financially draining. As a science-based research, it’s really expensive to run. So, the scholarship will go a long way to assist the research,” she added.

The scholarship awardees are Rayhana Davies-Sanni (Lagos State University), Adam Umar (Lagos State University), Sogbesan Zaynab (College of Medicine, University of Lagos), Mikail Saheed (Olabisi Onabanjo University), Yusuf Zen-Adideen (Olabisi Onabanjo University), Yahaya Isiaq (Al-Hikmah University), Ahmodu Tajudeen (Lagos State University), Oke Aliyu (Ladoke Akintola University of Technology), Jembi Rafiat (Tai Solarin University of Education) and Sulayman Latif (Olabisi Onabanjo University).