‘Scholarships for children’ — law firm sets up endowment fund for poor Nigerians

The Metropolitan Law Firm says it has launched an endowment fund under the Islamic banking guidelines to support the education of indigent Nigerians from primary to tertiary institutions.

The fund, called Waqf, is an instrument of Islamic estate planning, largely designed for charitable and philanthropic activities, to solve social problems.

Ummahani Amin, managing partner at the Metropolitan Law Firm, spoke at 5th annual Islamic estate planning and clinic, and the official launch of the Metropolitan Waqf fund held recently in Abuja.

The event was organised in partnership with the FBNQuest Trustees, a subsidiary of FBN Holdings.

She said N60 million seed funding has been committed to the fund.

Amin added that the fund is targeted at the less privileged children, particularly orphans in the north-east.

The lawyer noted that the philanthropic activity will begin in the north-east as it is the region of the country that is most ravaged by insurgency and wanton killings which have left many destitute.

“We are targeting north-east right now when it expands, it would be for everyone that meets the criteria. We will start with scholarships, but in the long run, we intend to have schools, especially for that with the best quality education and teachers to nurture and train the children till tertiary level, and we intend to give scholarships to either study in or out of the country at the tertiary level,” Amin said.

Explaining that Waqf is an aspect of Islamic social financing targeted at solving a social problem, Amin said the fund is open for donations from individuals and institutions.

She said Waqf is part of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the law firm.

Abimbola Ajinibi, senior vice-president of FBNQuest, said: “Waqf is called Islamic trust. It simply means that you have three parties, a set law, trustees, and the beneficiaries. Essentially, the trustees hold assets for the benefit of the named beneficiary.”

“Today, we are launching Metropolitan Waqf which means that we are setting up a trust for the benefit of certain people. So we (FBN Quest) are going to act as delegate trustees to ensure that the interest of the beneficiaries is protected.”

Also speaking, Ireti Kingibe, the senator-elect for the federal capital territory (FCT), emphasised that the target is to help out-of-school children in the country, especially from the north.

Kingibe, who is also a board member for the Metropolitan Waqf Fund, assured that when she assumes office, she would use her position to help marginalised groups in the FCT, particularly youth, women, and children.