Maduako Igbokwe l Monday, March 23, 2020
ONITSHA, Anambra, Nigeria – President Mohammed Buhari, Governor of Gombe state Alhaji Mohamed Inuwa Yahaya and former President of the Senate, Dr. Ken Nnamani have commended sir Emeka offor for his contributions towards education and health care delivery in the country.
They gave the commendations at the 2020 Sir Emeka Offor Foundation (SEOF) National Books/Educational Materials and Medical Equipment distributions programme held on Friday in Oraifite, Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra state.
During the event 1,460.000 volumes of books were donated to 515 educational institutions across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The institutions include 136 tertiary institutions,186 secondary schools,186 primary institutions and seven public libraries ,one in each zone and Abuja. President Buhari represented by the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba said Offor’s contributions to education and health care delivery in the country was commendable and appreciated.
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According to the President, Sir Emeka Offor realising the importance of education has done wonderful well in supporting the government to leap the standard of education. He called on other well to do individuals to emulate the good gesture of offor and give back to the society. He said the Federal government would continue to encourage and support Offor towards a better Nigeria.
Commending the good gesture of Offor, the governor of Gombe state Alhaji Inuwa Yahaya said the efforts of Offor would assist the country’s educational challenges, especially those from Boko Haram ravaged areas. He said the Emeka Education foundation cuts across all parts of the country without tribal, religious or political inclination.
” I want to thank Emeka Offor for extending his generosity to all Nigerians irrespective of tribe, religion and political affiliation.
Offor is really fighting poverty, hunger and disease through his foundation and I called on other Nigerians to emulate Offor” he said.
He also stated that his major reason for coming was to see for himself how it is done and the volume of books and medical, saying that when he declared open the warehouse, he was amazed at the volumes of books. For Nnamani, what offor is doing shows that there is hope for revamping the health and education sector of the country.
According to him, successful individuals should emulate Offor because the government alone cannot provide all that is needed for educational and health development. Offor in his speech said that the purpose of his foundation was to eradicate and improve on the reading cultures of the people and provide a knowledge warehouse for the children and future generations.
He also stated that he is committed to supporting the government at all levels towards improving educational infrastructure for effective teaching and learning.
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In his welcome address, the coordinator of Dr. Emeka Offor Foundation sir Tony Obi said the foundation is a non profit organisation with vision to reduce poverty, create life improving economic opportunities for people, especially the downthrowthen through education, healthcare services, youths empowerment programmes and infrastructural development.
According to him, in the last 11 years since its inception, it has annually distributed textbooks across educational institutions for primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in Nigeria and African countries free of charge. He said the aim of the foundation was to stimulate interest , encourage reading culture and promote educational development as contributions to Nigeria and sister African countries.
Obi said this year’s programme was unique because many states and institutions will get hospital equipment that would be delivered directly to them in their various states and institutions.
He also disclosed that the foundation has donated books worth millions of volumes to her beneficiaries since inception in 2009.
He further said that the foundation has also offered scholarships to indigent intelligent students over the years both within and outside the country in various fields.
