Oando PLC, Nigeria’s leading integrated energy solution providers last month, paid a visit to Minister of State 2, Federal Ministry of Education, Hajiya Aishatu Jibril Dukku, to formally present Oando its Adopt-A-School programme, and unveil its plan.
The ‘Oando Adopt-A-School’ project was initiated in February, 2007 in response to the government’s call for partnership to actively participate in community involvement projects, particularly focusing on empowering communities through education.
Within the last six months the project had achieved the following as presented to the Minister:
Commencement of renovation activities for Government Primary School, Ekorinim, Calabar, Cross Rivers State.
Commencement of renovation activities for Metropolitan Primary School, Orile-Iganmu, Lagos.
Plans to commence renovation of Daura Primary School, Daura, Katsina State, by the end of this month.
In addition to the Adopt–A–School project, the company has provided comprehensive scholarships for eight children in Rivers State and 100 children in Lagos by one of Oando’s subsidiary, Gaslink.
Commenting on the presentation, the Minister said, “I commend the efforts of Oando in partnering with the government so far to develop education, because once education sector improves business too will improve”.
Commenting further, she said, “I will like corporate organisations like Oando to engage the communities in dialogue not just build schools and educate them, so that there would be ownership and partnership. This would prevent the communities from expecting everything from you and would help to stop the vandalisation of the renovated schools.
Oando is currently at the pilot phase, and had planned on adopting schools in communities it already has presence. The schools would be taken through different phases of development for the duration of their adoption”.
The overall goal is to contribute towards sustainable economic development by working towards the achievement of the second goal of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2015, which is to ensure that by 2015 children everywhere, boys and girls alike will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. Oando was represented on the visit by the General Manager, Corporate Services, Tokunboh Durosaro, and Abimbola Okoya, Oando’s Corporate Social Responsibility Manager.
