An environmentalist, Mr Nnimmo Bassey, has donated a resource centre/library worth millions of naira to St. Mary Secondary School Ikot Nseyen in Ikono local government area of Akwa Ibom.
Speaking to newsmen after the donation in Ikot Nseyen over the weekend, Bassey said he was motivated to build the library/resource centre at the community to encourage the young ones to read.
The donor said a lot of what he learned and achieved in life were made possible through the numerous books he read from his primary school days to date, saying this was his motivation to build and donate the facilities to the community.
He called on students and the young ones in the community where the facility is located to avail themselves the opportunity to read and search for more knowledge to enhance the development of the area.
“A lot of what I have learnt personally has been from books, no matter what we do, a whole lot are influenced by the books we read. So, books mean a lot to me.
“In Health of Mother Earth Foundation, we have three categories of work; we work on climate issues, we work on hunger and food issues and we also work on what we called ‘ikike’ knowledge and the right to hold knowledge and to share knowledge.
“It is an ecological think tank and you cannot think without documenting your thoughts and books are extremely important. If children have access to books, they have unlimited possibilities of getting to any level in life,” he said.
Receiving the donation on behalf of the community and state government, Dr Ekaete Okon, Chairman State Secondary Education Board, said education should not be left for government alone.
Okon called on all well-meaning indigenes of Nkwot Ekaisong community and other communities to emulate the philanthropist gesture of Bassey.
She assured that the state government through the state secondary education board would provide qualified librarian to man the library and donate more books to the library.
