Ready, Steady, Sail !

Happy New Year!

First, I want to say thank you for your support. We are grateful for your constant support that has come in many wonderful ways; from Nana who worked with us to get the Foundation registered to people like Ikenna and Ikponmwosa who provided useful feedback, Eloho for her support, Sam Hart for his encouraging words and for everyone else who has cheered us on, Bisi and I sincerely thank you.

What a bunker year 2022 was! With the number of unprecedented events that it brought; War hit Ukraine, Australia terminating the Nuclear Submarine agreement with the French; the UK saw all of three Prime Ministers within two months, and lost HRH the Queen, who reigned decades longer than I have been alive, to name a few. Another major highlight of the year of course is Lionel Messi owning the '22 FIFA World Cup.

A truly fantastic way to end it!

To bring it home, Nigeria saw an inflation increase of around 21%, severe floods that led to hundreds of deaths, state gubernatorial elections, presidential primaries, banditry, massacres, the lynching of a Christian student, Deborah up in the north, train attacks and kidnapping, church attacks and killings. 2022 is also the year we saw our very own record holder Tobi Amusan break a 16-year record for women's 100m hurdles at the Commonwealth Games. Fist pump!!

Undoubtedly, these are some severe headwinds, yet we’re optimistic and look ahead with purpose and action.

Thus, I am delighted to share our very first newsletter with you.

This past year was a busy year for us at the Foundation. What we thought was a simple vision has taken on a life of its own, superbly driven by my lovely wife and partner on this journey. While we’re keen to make a mark on people’s lives, we’re also working to ensure that we have systems in place for this to be a long and consistent venture.

Hats off to Bisi for her doggedness in running Operations. I must also praise the team whom we have worked with (special shout out to Tolu, Tammy, Ogaga, Oke) to get us to this point, salute!

This year we hit the ground running with a lot of official firsts. From getting the Ojascholarships.org website up, sending out our first ever Invitations to Apply, to selecting beneficiaries and eventually tracking their performance. We also have a couple of little projects lined up and we look forward to working with you our partner . Kindly keep an eye out for our monthly newsletter as it will update and keep you informed of what we are doing.

It is our vision at The Ojah Scholarship Foundation that this and other academic contributions towards advancing STEM education in the Niger Delta will see the current gap begin to close and ultimately lead the industry in Nigeria.

Once again, thank you for coming on this journey with us and I thank God Almighty for this seed, He is with us and we set sail.

Batarhe Foghi

Founder