philanthropy and hard work to speak for him.
This son of a Policeman who was born in Kafanchan braved the odds to
become the successful businessman that he is today. He has dealt
poverty a great blow and has tried his best to ensure that the pangs
of poverty would not hinder the dreamof the average Nigerian child
today. Recently he gave a whooping 1 million dollars in addition to
the initial 250 thousand dollars he donated to the Rotary Foundation
polio plus programme, for the eradication of polio in Nigeria. Nigeria
is the only country in Africa where the incidence of Polio is still
being recorded. Would it not be a good enough news for us Nigerians if
zero cases of Polio is recorded by the end of 2014 in Nigeria, as is
being projected, courtesy of our ownSir Emeka Offor? Why would Bonny
Okonkwo and a group of persons under the "Mbala Obodo" forum castigate
and viliify him for this kind gesture to humanity?
The speakers in the acclaimed "Mbala Mbodo" forum alleged that there
is no clean drinking water, electricity, or hospitals in Oraifite, but
I must say here that this claim is totally fallacious. Sir Emeka
Offor has a charitable foundation, The Sir Emeka Offor Foundation
(SEOF- http://www.sireofforfoundation.org) that has touched the lives
of Oraifite indigenes and indeed the whole Nigeria at large.
His numerous philanthropic gestureshave gone unnoticed because he is
not a trumpeter. He signed a 7million-dollar contract with Books for
Africa (BFA) for the delivery of 32, 40 ft HQ containers of primary,
secondary and University texts from November 1 2011- November 1 2014.
It is expected that 640,00 books , assorted computers and school
supplies would be shipped under this agreement. Sir Emeka Offor has
lived up to this promise as he ensures that these books are
distributed annually to all these institutions of learning. I was
presentat last year's book sharing exercise, it was possible for one
to confuse the venue for a motor park as hundreds of buses from
various institutions across the federation were parked waiting to
receive their share of books.
The high point of the occasion was when he gave out a brand new 2012
Toyota Corolla car valued at 4.2 million naira and an automatic
employment to Miss Ebere Anaegbuonu a beneficiary of his scholarship
scheme, in fulfillment of the vow he made to provide a brand new car
and automatic employment in his chain of companies to any beneficiary
of his scholarship scheme who graduates with a first class from any
discipline. Presently over 120 students are enjoying Sir Emeka Offor's
scholarship at various educational levels.
In December 2012, his foundation sponsored a delegation of about 20
widows from Oraifite to India on a three week study visit to the
Talent research foundation. This group of women learnt a lot about
practices and activities that enhanced the economic, social and
political lives of the rural Indian populace. Areas of interest
included skill acquisition centers, small holder farms, orphanages,
rehabilitation centres and designated rural health centers. The SEOF
Widows Cooperative whichas of date caters for over 2000 widows doles
out on a yearly basis, bags of rice and other food items to these
women.
He also gave out 7 million naira through his charitable foundation to
one Miss Stella Eze from Nsukka, Enugu State for her kidney
transplant. She is presently in India for the surgery.
It is on record that Sir Emeka Offor's company, Kaztec Engineering
Limited rescued 2 of the survivors of the Calabar boat mishap that
happened earlier this year. He also took it upon himself to visit them
at the Bakor Medical Centre, Calabar where they were hospitalized,
with food items as well as cash donations.He even offered to employ
them in one of his companies.
Just a few months ago, Sir Emeka through his foundation donated$4,000
USD to save Baby Kehinde's life. Kehinde Olaniyi was born two months
ago in a very bad shape, with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC)
at the Garki GeneralHospital, as against his twin Taiye who is in
perfect condition. He is also suffering from a case of undescended
testicles, inguinal and lumbar hernia, plus Scoliosis, a medical
condition in which a person's spine is curved from side to side. The
donation was to assist in a corrective surgery abroad.
The Sir Emeka Offor Foundation in her efforts to help eradicate some
ravaging diseases in Nigeria recently donated $250,000 to the Carter
Center, in support of its River Blindness Control Programme in the
South East states of Nigeria. It will also be recalled that the SEOF
has donated so far the sum of €250,000 to endow a professorship of
glaucoma in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of
Mainz, Germany. This is to assist research on the early detection and
treatment of glaucoma.
In all fairness, how does these charitable gestures culminate in
terrorizing the people of Oraifite?
Sir Emeka Offor understands that Charity begins at home, so when he
decided to build a radio station in Nigeria, he did not consider Abuja
or Lagos or Port-Harcourt, he decided to bring it back home to provide
entertainment, information and above all employment for his dear
people of Oraifite. Blaze 91.5 FM every 30th and 31st of December
hosts the Blaze blast concert where most "A " list artistes in the
NigerianEntertainment industry are brought in to thrill the audience
who do not have to pay a dime to have a swell time. The show which is
open to all and sundry is a platform which brings together south-east
youths and other youths across the country. If you doubt the veracity
of this claim, you may consider spending this years Xmas season in
Oraifite to see things for yourself.
He more or less single-handedly built the Anglican church that serves
the community and this edifice is a magnificent structure to behold.
Emeka Offor has brought a lot of development to the Oraifite community
which is so visible to the blind and audible to the deaf. For
instance, he built the first access road from Oraifite to Nnewi; He is
the brain behind the constant powersource in Oraifite. He single
handedlysponsors the New yam festivities "Afiolu" in Oraifite. The
decision by some group of people to take out their time to disparage
the characterof this God sent man cannot be condoned. Sir Emeka Offor
has done a lot of good deeds in Oraifite community and should not be
paid back with defamatory comments
.
"It is within the rights of every man,wealthy or not, to protect and
preserve his reputation. This is because a man is no better than his
name, perception being cognitive reality. To this end and in the
protection of every man's interest inhis good reputation, the human
society developed the law of defamation of character."
0 comments:
Post a Comment