Sir Emeka Ofor Foundation (SEOF) on Tuesday donated 22, 000 volumes of books to 10 public primary and secondary schools in Kaduna State to improve reading culture.
The donation was also extended to the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria.
The primary schools that benefited from the donation were LEA primary school Kawo, Unguwan Sarki, Rigasa, Unguwan Rimi and Yahaya Hamza in Unguwan Liman, Zaria.
The other beneficiaries were Queen Amina College, Barewa College, Sardauna Memorial College, Dalet Girls Secondary School, Government day Secondary School Hayin Banki and ABU, Zaria.
Chief of Staff to the founder of SEOF, AIG Chris Ezike (rtd), said the donation was aimed at improving and sustaining reading culture in Nigerian academic environment.
He added that the educational intervention programme was based on the foundation’s convictions that books and libraries represented the warehouse of knowledge.
“We also wish to encourage healthy competition and data collection and to also provide private sector partnership with Government on educational development.”
He said that the donation was being done nationwide, adding that the books covered various disciplines.
Ezike said SEOF collaborated with Books for Africa (BFA) to donate 30 million dollars worth of books, computers and other educational materials to universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, secondary and primary schools, as well as public libraries in Nigeria and 18 other African countries.
According to him, the benefiting institutions in Kaduna State were nominated by the Minister of Finance, Budget
and National Planning as part of her contribution to mitigating challenges in primary, secondary and tertiary education in Nigeria.
He assured that the foundation would continue to sustain the interventions and accommodate more educational institutions in its 2021 National Book Distribution Programme.
Ezike appealed to the state Ministry of Education to help monitor the usage of the books in order to check abuses.
He called on schools administrators to partner with the various health ministries, departments and agencies charged with managing COVID-19 pandemic, to mitigate the challenges students might face on resumption.
Appreciating the foundation, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, said the gesture was timely, at a period the state government was trying to standardize the educational sector.
Represented by her special assistant, Hajia Hauwa Yahaya, she urged the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the books.
Also appreciating SEOF, the Commissioner of Education, Shehu Makarfi, said the donation would increase the level of readership among students and teachers.
The commissioner, represented by the Permanent Secretary of Ministry, Mrs Phoebe Yayi, assured of proper utilization of the books.
Malam Bashir Munir, Deputy Registrar, ABU Alumni Relations, who spoke on behalf of the beneficiaries, said the donation would go a long way in boosting knowledge research.
He noted that some academic institutions failed to get accreditation for their courses due to lack of good and certified books in their libraries.
“Good and certified books can last up to 100 years in our academic libraries, libraries are crucial to any academic institution”, Munir said.
20 cartons of the books were given to each of the schools while ABU received 60. (NAN)