BUA Chairman, Abdul Samad Rabiu has again come to the aid of Nigerian educational system with a 5.5Billion NAIRA grant for infrastructural development to 22 Universities and other tertiary institutions. The grant is coming under the ASR Tertiary Education Grants Scheme.
The new recipients will bring to 30 the number of Nigerian higher institutions that have benefited from the scheme. Before the new set, eight Universities in Nigeria had benefited from the Scheme, receiving billions of Naira in grants with some of their targeted projects nearing completion.
Speaking on the grants, Abdul Samad Rabiu, Chairman ASR Africa and BUA Group revealed that, ‘At ASR AFRICA, we believe in Africa’s capacity to leapfrog the development divide through the SDGs. Good quality investments in education is one of the ways through which we can achieve that. This is why education remains one of the three focal areas of ASR Africa’s intervention in Nigeria, and Africa, and our investments in infrastructure for tertiary institutions are showing good promise’.
The Managing Director of ASR Africa, Ubon Udoh, while speaking on the selected institutions revealed that the 22 picked for 5.5billion NAIRA grant were chosen across Nigeria based on certain criteria. He also promised that ‘the next phase under our grants framework would be project selection and development of mutual accountability framework with respective Universities and this phase is expected to commence in coming weeks.’
The beneficiary institutions, which were picked from both private and public-owned institutions include Bayero University, Kano, Adamawa State University, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Nigerian Law School, Lagos, University of Uyo, University of Lagos, University of Jos, Federal College of Education, Technology, Gusau, Federal University, LOKOJA, Nasarawa State University, University of Port Harcourt, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Uthman Dan Fodio University, Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Crescent University, Babcock University, Al Qalam University, Baze University, Nigerian Defence Academy, Federal University, Gashua, and the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru.
ASR Africa has been at the vanguard of supporting educational, health and social development sectors in the continent since its inception. It is the brainchild of Abdul Samad Rabiu, Chairman of BUA Group of companies, Nigeria’s foremost billionaire industrialist.