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The John Aniagwu Foundation

The John Aniagwu Foundation was incorporated 2015, with the goal to assist academically gifted undergraduates who are challenged by financial circumstances, and might otherwise be unable to complete higher education.
The target beneficiaries are practicing Catholic Youth’s who are studying in public and Catholic tertiary institutions in Nigeria, and who are also active in their home and university parishes.

The Journey So Far

Having hitherto spent decades quietly and privately assisting indigent students, establishing the foundation marked the high point of formalising Msgr. John Aniagwu’s dream and scaling up its execution. From the generosity of private monetary gifts over the years, and increasingly from targeted donations received at major milestones on Msgr. John Aniagwu’s life’s journey, the foundation commenced operations with the 2016/17 academic year, enrolling its first batch of nine beneficiaries.
So far, by its fifth year, the John Aniagwu Foundation has sponsored forty-two students, across 24 tertiary institutions (22 public and two Catholic schools). Study disciplines have included: Accounting, Animal Science, Architecture, Building Technology, Business Administration, Business Education, Civil Engineering, Combined Social Science, Computer Science, Economics, Food Science & Technology, Guidance & Counseling, Industrial Chemistry, Law, Mass Communication, Medical Rehabilitation, Medicine & Surgery, Microbiology, Nursing, Nutrition & Dietetics, Petroleum Engineering, Physiology, Physiotherapy, Political Science, Prosthetics & Orthotics, Sociology, Statistics, Surveying & Geo-Informatics, and Theatre Arts.
The journey has been a gratifying one for the foundation, as indeed, it has been for the scholars and for the donors who have continued to contribute to actualising Msgr. Aniagwu’s dream of enabling a future for indigent Catholic youth in Nigeria.

The Human Face of The Scholarships

What does the average beneficiary of the John Aniagwu Foundation look like? As varied in family background and levels of challenge as can be imagined in the Nigerian society of today.

Consider one beneficiary family headed by a widow who lost her civil engineer husband in 2004 to kidney failure. She earns N29,000 (twenty-nine thousand naira) a month as a teacher in a private school in Lagos, and currently has two daughters in the university. 

Her first daughter was awarded the scholarship in 2017 upon entry into university. The second daughter subsequently gained admission into university and has consistently applied now for two years. 

She has met all the conditions but could not be awarded the scholarship. Not while her sister is already on the scholarship roll, and her mother at least has a job and only two children.

There are so many other deserving students whose circumstances are more challenging. 

Consider the growing number of unemployed parents, parents with failed businesses, petty traders, parents who are indigent widows/widowers, subsistence farmers back home in the villages, orphans putting themselves through university by working part-time as security guards, daily paid labourers on building sites and in factories, house helps, a female medical student who works in a bar, etc.

These are some of the background realities of students we screen each year as part of the beneficiary recruitment process.

Hoping Into The Future

The hope, plan and indeed, prayer of the foundation, is to grow the scholarship fund and be able to increase the number of students we support each year.
Time and time again, you have tirelessly responded to the call to contribute to the ongoing efforts of the John Aniagwu Foundation.

Thank you and God bless!