PRESS RELEASE
October 30, 2012
Oando Foundation Awards Scholarships; Transforming Tomorrow, Today
October 30, 2012 (Lagos, Nigeria): Oando Foundation, an independently registered charity of Oando PLC, today awarded scholarships to 225 less-privileged children nationwide as part of activities to launch its Oando”’”s Scholar Programme. The event, which held at Civic Centre Lagos, is in line with its vision to transform lives in Nigerian communities through education and economic empowerment.
Beneficiaries will be selected from Oando adopted primary schools throughout Nigeria, and the scheme will sponsor ten (10) outstanding primary six pupils from each of the Foundation/’/s adopted schools, through secondary and tertiary education on an annual basis. The programme will cover the tuition, sundry expenses such as transportation, study materials, school feeding and school uniforms. This is intended to foster the transition the advancement of the future workforce from Primary School to Secondary School education and to equip them with the capacity to compete with peers globally.
Commenting on the launch, Ms. Tokunboh Durosaro, Director, Oando Foundation said: “Basic education is one of the most potent tools for reducing poverty and inequality in modern societies. We believe that intervening in the provision of quality education is critical to laying the foundation for the sustainable growth and development of our country.”
In line with addressing the challenges in the Nigerian education sector, the Oando Foundation, in partnership with the government at various levels, made a pledge to increase access and improve the overall quality of education across the country through its Adopt-A-School Initiative (AASI). Through the AASI, Oando Foundation adopts dilapidated public primary schools to provide new classroom blocks, new roofs, doors, windows, water supply, playgrounds, and sanitation facilities.
Commenting further, Ms. Durosaro said: “A lot of children who are enrolled in Nigerian public primary schools never progress to higher levels of education. Secondary and tertiary education remains mere pipe-dreams for most of them. We are committed to changing this grim story for as many Nigerian children as we possibly can.”
Also commenting, Mr. Wale Tinubu, Group Chief Executive, Oando PLC said, “At Oando PLC, we are passionate and inspired to develop the education sector in Nigeria, because our philosophy at Oando is that knowledge is the bedrock of any world-class aspiration. Pursuant to this, we have committed one per cent of the Oando Group’s profit-before-tax to ensure that the Foundation’s programmes are well funded and sustained”, Mr. Tinubu added.
The Foundation also creates superior learning environment for the teachers through training on pedagogy skills, numeracy & literacy and ICT skills; mostly deficient in public schools. It plans to set up and train School Based Management Committees (SBMCs) to ensure Community participation in school development. This will ensure the sustainability of each project by garnering the ownership and involvement of the community in infrastructure rehabilitation, monitoring of teachers, student enrollment levels and pass rates as well as engagement with government education officials.
About Oando Foundation:
Oando Foundation has so far adopted 28 schools across Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Cross River, Delta, Kaduna, Katsina, Lagos, Ogun, and Rivers States under its Adopt-A-School Initiative. To date, 17,292 students and 399 teachers nationwide have acquired increased access to quality education through Oando Foundation initiatives.
Oando initiated the “Adopt-A-School” programme in April 2007 as its corporate social responsibility strategy aimed at supporting the development of basic education in Nigeria and the West Africa sub region.
The culture of giving back goes beyond the enclaves of the Foundation alone as Oando employees have also demonstrated their care for the children by donating 14,000 books to aid their development.
The employees plan to do even more under the ‘Inspired Hands’ initiative. This initiative will involve employees giving their time and skills to decorate, teach pupils and train teachers in the adopted schools and fundraise for the Foundation. This is proof that giving back to the society is not just a corporate vision, but a dream the entire employees believe in.
Oando Foundation recently presented its framework of education objectives to several key players in the global education community, including the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, United States.
The Foundation has commenced registration in the United Kingdom and the United States to enhance the visibility of its commitment to education development in Africa and also to leverage on resources through contributions from the private sector, donor agencies, and individuals.
The Foundation plans to adopt 100 schools by 2015; directly affect over 100,000 lives by ensuring over 60,000 pupils have access to quality primary education; broaden the capacity of 3,584 teachers, award scholarships to over 2,560 pupils to reduce direct and indirect costs of education to students and support the Nigerian Government in reaching the second goal of the Millennium Development Goals by increasing the possibility of achieving Universal Basic Education.
Note to Editors
According to UNICEF, Nigeria, Africa’s most populated nation has an approximate 10.1 million children who are not enrolled in any form of schooling. Further, the United Nations Development Programme Report of 2011 (UNDP, 2011), puts Nigeria’s illiteracy rate at about 33 per cent, placing the country in 42nd position on the world literacy ranking, behind less developed countries like Malawi, Uganda, and Tanzania. These statistics illustrate the increasing need for educational reform in Nigeria.
