Ahmadu Bello University has taken delivery of 60 cartons of textbooks on various disciplines as donation from Sir Emeka Offor Foundation on conviction that books and libraries represent the warehouse of knowledge.
The books were received on behalf of the institution by Deputy Registrar, Alumni Relations, Directorate of University Advancement, Malam Bashir Munir, at a brief ceremony at Sardauna Memorial College in Kaduna today.
Donating the books consignment to the University and 10 other benefiting educational institutions, the Chairman of the Foundation, Sir Emeka Offor, said the gesture was primarily to improve and sustain reading culture as well as to encourage healthy competition and data collection.
The Chairman, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, retired AIG Chris Okey Ezike, congratulated the beneficiaries and urged them to make the best use of the books and educational materials.
“This donation is made as a humanitarian gesture and is strictly free of charge. The books are not to be sold, resold or exchanged for profit or gain.
“Therefore, these books do not have any commercial value as post-donation monitoring to ensure compliance with the rules of corporate governance shall be undertaken by our foundation”, he said.
The Chairman, who appealed to Kaduna State Ministry of Education to help monitor the usage of the books donated to primary and secondary schools in the state to check abuses, said the foundation would continue to sustain the intervention and accommodate more educational institutions in its 2021 national book distribution programme.
Ahmadu Bello University was nominated as one of the beneficiaries by the Hon. Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed as part of her contributions toward mitigating the challenges of primary, secondary and tertiary education in Nigeria.
The Minister, who is an alumnus of the University, equally nominated 10 other benefiting public primary and secondary schools in Kaduna State that each received 20 cartons of books.
Sir Emeka Offor Foundation is a charitable, non-governmental, non-profit organization founded by Sir Emeka Offor in 1996 with a vision to reduce poverty and create life-improving economic opportunities.
The foundation in collaboration with Books for Africa (BFA) has donated over 30 million US dollars worth of books, computers and other educational materials to universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, secondary and primary schools with public libraries in Nigeria and about 18 other African countries.
The books donated to ABU were later in Zaria today handed over to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Kabir Bala who equally forwarded them to the University Librarian, Prof. Umar Ibrahim for use in the library by academic staff, researchers and students.
In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Kabir Bala, expressed the University’s gratitude to the foundation and assured that the institution would make the best use of the books in line with the conviction of the donor.