The Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative, ASR Africa, has commenced project initiation consultations for its N1billion grant to Nigeria’s foremost University, the University of Ibadan, as part of its ASR Africa Tertiary Education Grants Scheme.
This was announced at a presentation of the grant to the management of the university and comes barely a month after the ASR Africa Initiative donated N1billion to Ahmadu Bello University towards the provision of students’ housing and a faculty building.
The initiative, whose core areas of intervention are Education, Health and Social Development in Africa focuses mainly on equipping facilities, researchers, healthcare practitioners and community-level service providers and also supporting the efforts of various Governments in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Represented by Dr. Aliyu Idi Hong, the Chairman of ASR Africa, Abdul Samad Rabiu said, “We are committing 100million dollars annually for social development, health and education intervention in Nigeria and Africa through the ASR Africa Initiative.
Of this amount, 50million dollars is being committed to Nigeria and another $50million for the rest of Africa. As part of the initiative’s Tertiary Education Grants Scheme, N1billion each has been allocated to 6 universities across Nigeria.
“Subsequently, more interventions will be done in the areas of health and social development,” he added.
On his part, the Acting Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Adebola Ekanola thanked Abdul Samad Rabiu and ASR Africa for the gesture.
Mr Ekanola said: “This is an important intervention for the University of Ibadan. It will meet some of our most pressing needs which will also impact on our capacity to achieve the core objectives of the University of Ibadan.
“We believe that these projects we are proposing for the grant sponsorship will empower the University of Ibadan to be more efficient and effective in teaching, research and community services.
“It will also empower us to train our students in ways that would make them to be globally competitive.
“This initiative will go a long way in revamping our educational sector in Nigeria with specific reference to the university system in the country”.
