Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The Governme of Kaduna State has appealed to he Sir Emeka Offor Foundation (SEOF) to donate books to school libraries in the State.
The appeal comes on the heels of thousands of assorted books donated by the Foundation to eleven select schools, including Ahmadu Bello University in the State.
The books, which were contained in 260 cartons, are of various academic disciplines.
Speaking at the occasion, the Permanent Secretary in the Kaduna State of Ministry of Education, Mrs Phoebe Sukai Yayi, commended the SEOF for the good gesture and appealed for more of such gestures so that every school library in the State could be stocked with enough books.
‘We want to, like Oliver Twist, ask for more of these books so that we can restock all our school libraries with books. We will monitor these books so that they are not misused,’ he Permanent Secretary said.
‘If there is anything that Kaduna State needs for development, it is sound education. We want everybody in Kaduna to be knowledgeable since the State is the centre of learning.’
A message by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, commended the Foundation for having donated thousands of educational books to primary, secondary and tertiary schools.
The Minister, represented at the event by Hajiya Hauwa Yahaya, commended Offor for the donations, urging Northern elites and NGOs alike to emulate the benefactor to spur educational development in the country.
‘Sir Emeka Offor has demonstrated that he was actually born in Kaduna and so Kaduna is his home. I urge other people and NGO founders to emulate him for academic development of our country,’ she stated.
Earlier in his speech, the Chief of Staff to the SEOF, AIG Chris Okey Ezuke (retd), said the primary and secondary schools will receive twenty cartons of the assorted books for various disciplines, while Ahmadu Bello University will receive sixty cartons.
He disclosed that the SEOF in collaboration with Books for Africa (BFA) has donated over US$30 million worth of books, computers and other educational materials to universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, secondary and primary schools and public libraries in Nigeria and about 18 other African countries.
He explained that the donated books are a humanitarian gesture and ‘strictly free of charge, not to be sold, resold or exchanged for profit or gain. These books do not have any commercial value as post donation monitoring, to ensure compliance with rules of corporate governance, shall be undertaken by our Feoundation.
‘The educational intervention programme is based on our conviction that books and libraries represent the warehouse of knowledge, improves and sustain reading culture, encourages healthy competition and data collection and provides private sector partnership with government on educational development.’
The benefiting schools include 5 primary schools, namely: LEA Primary School, Kawo; Yahaya Hamza Primary School, Unguwan Liman, Zaria; LEA Primary School, Unguwan Sarki; LEA Primary School, Rigasa; LEA Primary School, Unguwan Rimi; 5 secondary schools, namely: Queen Amina College, Kaduna; Barewa College, Zaria; SMC Unguwan Dosa; Dalet Girls Secondary School/Junior Kawo, Kaduna; Government Day Secondary School Hayin Banki, Kaduna; and one tertiary institution, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
The benefitting schools were nominated to the Foundation by the Minister as part of her contributions towards mitigating the challenges of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Education in Nigeria.