Iwalewa Foundation Annual University Scholarship Award 2026
If you're a Nigerian undergraduate searching for financial support to continue your studies, the Iwalewa Foundation Annual University Scholarship Award is worth putting on your radar.
Now running into its next award cycle in 2026, this scholarship has quietly supported dozens of students from Kishi, Oyo State, over the past several years, helping them stay in school across fields as varied as medicine, pharmacy, nursing, computer science, and education.
Here's a full breakdown of what the scholarship is, who can apply, how the process works, and where to find the official application.
About the Iwalewa Foundation
The Iwalewa Foundation is a Nigerian non profit organisation with two core focus areas: education and healthcare.
Under its education arm, the Foundation runs the Iwalewa Annual University Award, a yearly scholarship programme aimed specifically at supporting disadvantaged students who are indigenes of Kishi, a town in Oyo State, Nigeria, currently enrolled in Nigerian public universities.
The scholarship has been running for several award cycles now, with the most recent named class being the 2025/2026 cohort, in which ten students were selected as beneficiaries.
Award Value
Each selected beneficiary receives a one time award of ₦100,000 (one hundred thousand naira) to support their university education. Awards are typically disbursed once per academic cycle to a cohort of around 5 to 10 students.
Eligibility Criteria
Based on the Foundation's published criteria, applicants are generally expected to meet the following:
Be an indigene of Kishi, Oyo State, Nigeria (this is the central eligibility requirement; the scholarship is community focused rather than nationally open).
Be currently enrolled in a recognised Nigerian public university, at either the undergraduate or postgraduate level (past beneficiaries have included students in bachelor's degree programmes as well as a few pursuing master's degrees).
Demonstrate financial need, as the programme is explicitly targeted at disadvantaged students.
Be prepared to go through a screening process conducted by an independent screening committee, which reviews applications against the foundation's internal selection criteria.
The course of study does not appear to be restricted; past winners have come from fields including medicine, pharmacy, nursing, community health, computer science, applied geophysics, political science, economics, biochemistry, electrical engineering, and education, among others.
Application Process
Applying to the Iwalewa Annual University Award follows a fairly straightforward, four stage process:
Check Eligibility: Confirm you meet the Foundation's eligibility criteria, most notably that you are a Kishi indigene enrolled in a Nigerian public university.
Complete the Application Form: Fill out the official Scholarship Award Application Form, providing your personal details, academic information, and supporting documentation as required.
Screening: Submitted applications are reviewed by an independent screening committee, which evaluates candidates against set criteria and makes the final selection decision.
Award: Successful applicants are announced publicly on the Foundation's website and notified individually, after which the ₦100,000 award is disbursed.
Why This Scholarship Matters
Unlike large international scholarship programmes that draw thousands of applicants from across the continent, the Iwalewa Foundation's award is intentionally small and community rooted.
By focusing on Kishi indigenes, the foundation can provide meaningful, targeted support to a specific community's students, the kind of localised philanthropy that often gets overlooked in broader scholarship roundups but that can make a real difference for the students it reaches.