N248m will be disbursed to students of Ondo State origin as scholarship grants and bursaries by the Ondo State Scholarship Board.

According to the chairman of the board, Mr. Daye Awude while briefing journalists in Akure, the Ondo State capital, said about 25,000 students pursuing academic programmes in different tertiary institutions across the country would benefit from the payments.

PUNCH reports that the categories for disbursement will include the regular scheme, the physically-challenged, medical students in clinical stages and those in the Nigerian Law Schools.

According to Awude, those in the regular scheme will get N36m; medical, N38m; law school, N12m and the physically challenged, N10m.

“Disbursement will be done in phases, not at once and the accounts of beneficiaries will be credited, because we do not handle cash any longer,” the scholarship board chairman said.

He also noted that the board had been making efforts to expand its scheme to cover foreign students hence the partnerships with countries in Europe to perfect the plan.

He said the board, in 2014, commenced payments of students studying outside of the state before paying those within the state.

“But this year, the reverse will be the case. We will start paying those within the state and then to other schools outside the state,” Awude said.

Responding to the development, President of the Senate of the National Association of Ondo State Students, Mr. Fagbemigun Adewunmi, thanked the government for providing funds for the payments.