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Sir Emeka Offor Foundation of Nigeria donates $600,000 to St. Paul-based Books for Africa; Largest donation ever

The Nigeria-based Sir Emeka Offor Foundation has donated $600,000 to Books For Africa (BFA), which will support the shipment of more than a million books to the children of Nigeria and across Africa.  "This donation represents the largest single donation we have ever received at Books For Africa, so naturally we are quite excited," said Patrick Plonski, executive director of BFA. "The generosity of Sir Emeka Offor in advancing education across the African continent is an outstanding example for others to follow." Tom Warth, who founded BFA in 1988, said that the "benefits that will accrue to the young people of Africa through this generous donation are immeasurable. We at Books For Africa struggle every day to convince folks of the wisdom of education in the advancement of African nations. Over our 25 years many have agreed with us but …


Forbes Reports on Sir Emeka Offor's Efforts to Battle Polio

The following story by Mfonobong Nsehe was published by Forbes on June 26, 2012. To see the original article, click here. Nigerian Millionaire Donates $1 Million To Rotary International Sir Emeka Offor, a wealthy Nigerian oil baron, has donated $1 million toPolioPlus, an international polio eradication programme promoted by Rotary International, Nigeria’s Vanguardnewspaper has reported. Offor, who is the founder and Executive Vice Chairman of Chrome Group, a Nigerian conglomerate with interests in oil trading, biofuels, dredging and logistics, made the donation on Sunday during the ongoing 2013 RotaryInternational Convention taking place in Lisbon, Portugal. “Polio should have no place in our world. Therefore, today I am giving an additional $1 million to PolioPlus,” he said, during the convention in a video available here. This is not the first time the Nigerian tycoon is donating to Rotary’s PolioPlus initiative, which provides …


Vanguard: Offor donates $1m to Rotary’s polio eradication

The following article by Emeka Aginam was published by Vanguard on June 25, 2013. To see the original article, please click here. Offor donates $1m to Rotary’s polio eradication By Emeka Aginam, in Lisbon, Portugal In his committed effort to join in the total eradication of Polio globally, especially in Nigeria, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Chrome Group, Sir. Emeka Offor yesterday at the ongoing 2013  Rotary International Convention in Lisbon,  Portugal announced additional donation of $1 million to Rotary International. Currently,  Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the countries where the wild polio virus  has never been stopped. In his presentation yesterday during a PolioPlus workshop,   at the convention, he told the gathering that a defining moment for him was when he received confirmation from Rotary that his initial $250,000 contribution to PolioPlus was  used immediately in the campaign …


Publishers Weekly Reports on Sir Emeka Offor Foundation

The following article by Claire Kirch of Publisher's Weekly was published on June 18, 2013. To see the original article, please click here. Books for Africa Receives $600,000 Donation By Claire Kirch | Jun 18, 2013 Books for Africa, the St. Paul, Minn.-based organization that collects donated books and ships them to schools and libraries in 49 African countries, has announced that the Nigerian-based Sir Emeka Offor Foundation has donated $600,000 to BFA. It is the largest cash donation BFA has received in its 25-year history. The money will be used to ship 1.1 million books to Nigeria, as well as to The Gambia, Somalia, Liberia, Tanzania, Namibia, Senegal, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Botswana, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Egypt, and Malawi. The Sir Emeka Offor Foundation was founded by a Nigerian business entrepreneur in the mid-1990s to “positively render assistance” to …


The Nation: The Fight Against Glaucoma

This article, The Fight Against Glaucoma, by Jacqueline W. Farris, the Director General, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation, Abuja, was published in The Nation on May 18, 2013. To view the original article click http://thenationonlineng.net/new/columnists/the-fight-against-glaucoma/. The article was also published in ThisDay and NBF News. As the world ended observation of World Glaucoma Week in March, it was revealed that not less than 4.5 million Nigerians suffer from this incurable disease.  In his bid to address this challenge, the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation has contributed €150,000 to endow a professorship of glaucoma in the Department of Ophthalamology at the University of Mainz, Germany. This will help to support research on the early detection and treatment of glaucoma. The foundation has previously contributed more than €100,000 in an effort to find a cure for this most frequent cause of irreversible blindness. The foundation has also …


Sir Emeka Offor: A Profile in Philanthropy

Smiles lit the faces of the young students. It was as if Christmas had managed to come in October. The youths had just received something their counterparts in other countries might take for granted but that was all too dear in Nigeria. These young people dream of a sound education; but, for many of them, the dream is elusive because there are not enough books to go around. For these fortunate students, this hurdle has been surmounted. By the truckload, they received new books, computers and other material that will enrich their education and their lives.  What makes this donation special is that the books and computers were not limited to select students at a few choice schools.  More than a token gift, what took place was literally a benign flood of books that will significantly improve the quality of …


Sir Emeka Offor Hosts Rotarians

On November 1, 2012, Sir Emeka Offor hosted the hierarchy of Rotary from Districts 9125, 9140 and 9125 at his country home in Oraifite, Anambra State. The three Districts had requested an opportunity to pay a courtesy call on Sir Offor to show their appreciation for his donations to Rotary International. Sir Offor had donated a sum of $250,000 for Peace Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand and another $250,000 for Polio Eradication. Rotarians present at the gathering included Bob Ogbuagu (Past District Governor - PDG), Gabriel Toby (former Deputy Governor of Rivers State), Ben Aghazu (PDG), Buchi Onuoha (District Governor - DG), Felix Obadan (DG), Joshua Hassan (Regional District Coordinator) and Yinka Babalola, among others. The Rector and Rotaractors (students) of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko were also present. Rotarians at the occasion praised the vision and uncommon courage of …


From Reuters: Nigeria names preferred bids for state power firms

The following report, written by Joe Brock and Camillus Eboh, was published on October 16, 2012: ABUJA, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Nigeria announced the preferred bidders on Tuesday for 10 state power distribution firms it is selling for 197.25 billion naira ($1.25 billion) as part of a plan to reform the country's moribund electricity sector. Power outages, which amount to several hours per day, are the biggest brake on growth in Africa's second biggest economy and a frequent complaint of Nigeria's 160 million people. In 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan announced plans to break up the state power company and sell it off as 11 distribution and six generation companies. He has promised a tenfold increase in electricity by 2020. Previous state sell-offs in Nigeria were blighted by political infighting and corruption, which have caused years of delays. Regulators said this process …


The Nation Reports on Federal Polytechnic, Oku Award for Sir Emeka Offor

The article, "Honour for a philanthopist," in The Nation reports on an award from student union government of the Federal Polytechnic Oko for Sir Emeka Offor, recognizing his contributions toward the gorwth ahd development of the institution. According to the article: Sir Offor also used the opportunity to shower the students with another set of donation of information communication equipment including 10 brand new desktop and laptop computers and accessories.  The interest of Sir Emeka in the institution was borne out of personal conviction on the need to raise the standard of education in the country. The slogan that charity begins at home also contributed in no small measure in the choice of Oko as a focal point for the foundation’s school empowerment program.  The foundation is committed to the development of students across the state especially the intelligent but indigent …