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The Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR) has made a ₦1 billion grant to Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka for the execution of special projects that would support teaching and learning in the university.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, Dr Uboh Udoh, disclosed this at the university during the foundation stone laying for the construction of Students’ Centre by the ASR.
He said that the chairman of BUA Group, Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu, initiated the ASR Africa in 2001 and started with six grants of N1 billion each to six universities in the country, one in each geopolitical zone.
Udoh, who explained that UNIZIK was one of the varsities chosen for the grants, said it took a very tedious screening process to determine the beneficiaries.
‘We look at university rankings. We look at what kind of innovations the university has come up with, the publications.
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‘We look at different criteria to select the universities that will be beneficiaries and then we come and do a physical inspection and then interact with the students and staff of the school before we make a choice.
“With the project, we also go through a tedious process as well. The projects are run through a prioritisation filter. We have created a system where we can score projects based on some specific criteria.
“For example impact, accessibility, usage, what kind of ripple effect will it have on the larger community of wherever the project sited. And this project scored the highest”, he said.
Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Charles Esimone, commended the organisation for the kind gesture, saying that the university community would put the centre to a very good use when completed.
