From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
The United States Consulate in Lagos has donated 234 books, with an estimated value of $24,000 to the KolaDaisi University, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
The Public Affairs Officer at the consulate, Stephen Ibelli, on Wednesday led the delegation that donated the books to the private university, established by a billionaire businessman, Chief Kola Daisi.
According to Ibelli, “We were here about six months ago. We were so impressed with the students, we were so impressed with the vice chancellor, we were impressed with the university and we wanted to try to help. We identified a need and that need was books.
“We want to invest in the people, we want to invest in education, we want to invest in development and we also want to invest in the future and we felt providing the books was the best approach to these.
“The faculties identified the books they wanted and we ordered them. These form about 80 per cent of the books we ordered at $24,000 (234 books). Many of these books are very difficult to get in Nigeria. We were able to use our diplomatic resources and diplomatic permission to be able to bring those books into the country in a much faster way.
“We hope to again continue our wonderful partnership with KolaDaisi University with the Fulbright programme, where Americans will come to KolaDaisi and the university will also send their scholars to United States. We hope to work on that.
Speaking on the occasion, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Adeniyi Olatubosun, thanked the US Consulate for the gesture. He also urged appealed to agencies of the government and institutions to take a cue from the consulate.
One of the students, Boluwatife Aremu, emphasised the importance of the books towards preparing them for a secured future, thanking the consulate for donating the books.