Sir Emeka Offor Foundation: A Philanthropic Octopus

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Since 1994, Sir Emeka Offor Foundation (SEOF) has been involved in outright charity which has gone into many fields over the years. The foundation has gone through series of developmental stages, transformations and have equally surmounted daunting challenges as well, making it one of the biggest globally renowned non-profit charity organizations that have really impacted the society positively. Currently, SEOF engages in five different areas of charity and human capital development with a view of building good society. These areas are Education, Youth empowerment,Infrastructure, widows? cooperative scheme, and Health.

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Knowing that education holds the key for the future of every society, Sir Emeka Offor Foundation (SEOF) took off with educational aid for indigent students in form of full scholarships which has produced prominent individuals in different walks of life. Presently, in addition to the yearly scholarships doled out to students, the foundation is running a special educational intervention program to schools all over Africa termed ?Book for Africa?. This program has benefited a lot of schools all over Africa with their libraries filled with qualitative and instructive reading materials. Schools in Nigeria, Eritrea, Senegal,S?o Tom? and Pr?ncipe, Uganda, Mauritius, South Sudan, and a host of others have benefited and have not ceased in thanking SEOF for the gesture.

Apart from challenges of going to school in our country, unemploymenthas reached its crescendo in the world today as a result of various contributing factors which has increased pressure on the government and the society as well. Understanding the difficultyin this climeto finding job opportunities, the foundation decided to do something on job provision for the qualified persons and get others who did not or want to go to school through skill acquisition program. In July this year, SEOF through one of its associate companies doled out over 105 quality jobs to jobless graduates. Those who went through skill acquisition program were financially empowered to get started. Currently, over one thousand youths have been financially established through job creation and skill acquisition programs this year alone with process of helping new set in progress.
Sir Emeka Offor Foundation did not limit their charitable activities to only education and youth empowerment, SEOF has also initiated and completed different valuable infrastructural facilities at different times and at different levels. A five kilometer road was constructed by the foundation in 2000 at Oraifite at the time people spent hours on the road that does not take up to ten minutes now. The village cathedral was started and finished in 2005 as well as civic center and rebuilding of dilapidated schools. The foundation refurbished old and abandoned general hospital, completedand equipped health center which was abandoned by the local government and made sure it is functional.

Widows were not left out as they were grouped into cooperative societies under widows? cooperative scheme and funded through these cooperative organizations.Those of them that can no longer trade or do other normal human activities were taken good care of both materially and medically with all the cost at the foundation?s cheque book. Food stuffs and clothing materials are distributed to the widows every festive period and the less privileged who do not fall into this category are not left out. This scheme has run consistently for over ten years now with profound results which have given many widows who were thitherto marginalized and persecuted by some family members a new life. According to Mrs. Izuka, ?SEOF has brought both emotional and financial freedom to widows in this community especially those of us who were under the bondage of family repression?.This is one joyful expression out of numerous goodwill messages received by the foundation daily from testifying widows.

With this statement in mind, ?when health fails, all else fall apart?, the foundation moved intofree healthcare provision for rural dwellers who hardly or cannot access health care services. Free eye testing and medication are provided quarterly by the foundation in addition to its sponsorship of glaucoma research at the University of Mainz Germany. Moved by the compassionate drive to intervene in the difficult lives of polio survivors and the menace this crippling disease is causing in Nigeria and some other parts of the world, Sir Emeka Offor the Rotary international ambassador through his foundation SEOF, has been sponsoring polio immunization through his partnership with Rotary International, an organization noted for social work for the needy worldwide. In a Rotary conference in faraway Australia in August, Sir Emeka Offor donated one million dollars to Rotary international in furtherance of the fight against polio bringing his polio eradication donation to Rotary to $3.1 million.

Source:

Obi Ebuka Onochie can be reached via [email protected]

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