Determined to impact on all aspects of Nigerian citizens, one of Nigeria’s biggest oil exploration company, Aiteo has recently scaled up its social contributions towards education by donating half a billion naira to the Bayelsa State Education Development Trust Fund. This has become the largest donation received by the foundation since its establishment two years ago.
Aiteo had flagged off a competitive football tournament in the country, thus becoming one of the biggest single contributors to football development in Nigeria.
Aiteo’s decision to scale up its contributions to education in Nigeria starting from Bayelsa State is aimed at strengthening the values of knowledge and technology in the country.
Bayelsa State hosts the operational field of Aiteo, where it is managing the exploration of OML 29; thus the contribution to the educational progress of the state is seen as one of the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) which has been upped in recent times under the management’s new leadership, led by its Managing Director, Victor Okoronkwo.
The company said it believes that education is the most fundamental drive for national development everywhere in the world. This belief is reinforced by the convictions of its founder and Executive Vice- Chairman, Benedict Peters, who is a strong advocate of quality education for the growing young population on the continent.
Aiteo’s resolve to give massive support to educational development stems from the huge deficits plaguing the sector in most African nations.
Nigeria, the most populous African country currently possesses the largest population of out-of-school learning youth in the world. The dire situation of education in Nigeria is even more glaring when the statistics between South Africa and Nigeria are compared.
South Africa with a population of close to 50 million plans to spend $17.024 billion or 16.7 per cent of total government resources on basic education programmes in 2018/19 while Nigeria with a population of about 200 million is going to spend $1.5 billion or 7.02 percent in the 2019 budget. Frequent calls on the government to increase the portion of the budget dedicated to education have not succeeded.
In Bayelsa State, the set up of the Education Trust Fund has been described as one of the most laudable initiatives of the Seriake Dickson government. The Bayelsa Education Development Trust Fund (BEDTF) was set up in 2017 to sensitise and mobilise all indigenes of Bayelsa, Nigerians, groups, philanthropists and relevant international organisations to contribute to the fund.
Aiteo’s contributions to football in Nigeria and the entire Africa in the last two years has been monumental. The 20-year-old firm’s inputs have shaped the outlook of the sport in Nigeria and on the continental stage. Aiteo became the Official Optimum Partner of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), through massive financial investments that have boosted the performance of the Super Eagles and enhanced the capacity of the NFF to discharge its responsibilities.
