The Sir Emeka Offor Foundation said it has donated $30 million worth of books to Nigeria and 18 other African countries, in partnership with Books for Africa, United States of America, in a strategic effort to boost education.
Its Founder, Emeka Offor, stated this, at the weekend, after he was conferred with an honorary doctorate in Business Administration by the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Enugu State.
Offor, also, disclosed in 2019, he donated N8.52 million to the university for the equipping of Digital Anatomy Laboratory, Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Management, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences through the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC).
Represented by an alumnus of UNN, Steve Ahaneku, he said: “In partnership with our partner Books for Africa USA, Sir Emeka Offor Foundation has procured and distributed books in Nigeria and 18 other African countries worth over $30 million.
“The University of Nigeria, Nsukka is a direct beneficiary of this initiative and has received volumes of books covering various disciplines, including E-library, Geology, Law, Medicine, Engineering and Computer Science.
“In 2010, my foundation endowed a Professorial Chair worth N20 million which was released to the Faculty of Physical Sciences of this University.
“We have been receiving annual performance reports on this endowment but would advise that moving forward, the committee, handling this, should make the report more regular. Again, in August 2019, we donated N8.52 million to the university for the equipping of the Digital Anatomy Laboratory of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Management in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences through one of our subsidiaries, EEDC.
“Furthermore, in 2020, during the heat of the COVID challenge, we donated 100 complete bed sets with accessories worth N50 million to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu State as an emergency intervention.”
The philanthropist added that aside from the aforementioned gestures, and to appreciate the honour bestowed on him, he would initiate another endowment of N100 million to the university for its overall development.
“I shall convoke ‘my own ceremony’ at Abuja where the N100 million bank draft will be handed over to the vice chancellor and his team to the glory of God. The full details of the fund deployment shall also be worked out by our two teams,” he said.