Foundation Empowers Students

The Sir Paul Obi Foundation has expressed its commitment to empowering students. According to a statement obtained from the chairman who is aslo the Company Secretary, Nipco Plc, Mr Paul Chukwuma Obi, he launched the non-profit making and non-partisan foundation to contribute to the progress of humanity through the encouragement of educational pursuits.

The Sir Paul Obi Foundation, Ogberuru, in the Orlu Zone of Imo state, the statement added, had awarded scholarships to about 30 indigent students in the town and neighbouring autonomous communities.

The statement said that 12 of the beneficiaries had graduated from the university, while some graduated from secondary schools in the state. Speaking at the inauguration of the foundation, Obi who chairs its board of trustees, said, "I started nursing the philanthropic idea in 2001 but put it to informal effect in 2005 prior to the formal launch today.

According to him, the foundation is established in memory of his late father, Augustine Okoronkwo Obi, who was instrumental to his becoming a lawyer but died before he could graduate from the university. The statement added that the foundation was initially for indigent students from Ogberuru autonomous community but was extended to others in the area making up Ochasi Clan. The idea is to gradually extend it to cover the state and the nation in general.

Mr. Obi stated that the scheme was primarily aimed at supporting the training of beneficiaries through university education and thereafter making them assist their families and contribute to the development of the area and the society at large.

He also pointed out that the foundation is intended to support the handicapped and empower the youths for social regeneration as well as serve as a pressure group to draw the attention of the government to natural disasters e.g. gully erosions ravaging some parts of the Clan.