THE Rubber Estates Nigeria Limited (RENL), Araromi-Obu in Ondo state, has presented textbooks in core subjects, worth over N7 million, to at least 2,500 primary and secondary school students in its area of operation.
Mr Philippe Carty, the Managing Director of the firm, presented the books to the benefiting schools on Tuesday in Araromi Obu in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State.
Carty described the gesture as an annual ritual to appreciate the company’s 40 host communities in four states of Ondo, Edo, Delta, and Ogun.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the gifts included books in Mathematics, English Language, Social Studies, Vocational Studies, and Agricultural Science, among other educational materials.
The beneficiaries included pupils from Primary 1 to 6; Junior Secondary School 1 to 3 and Senior Secondary School 1 to 3.
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Carty said that the distribution of the textbooks and other items was being done simultaneously in the other three states.
He added that the company had also renovated and built schools for its host communities to provide an enabling environment for teaching and learning.
He also said that the company had executed projects for the host communities, including electricity, boreholes and town halls, among others.
Carty said that the company was paying N120,000 to each of the 150 students annually under its scholarship scheme.
He said that the gesture was to complement government’s efforts at ensuring that the future generation was educationally equipped to function effectively.
Also, a Holland-based non-governmental organization, known as Bag to Happiness, also distributed school bags to students of Local Authority Primary School, Araromi Rubber Estate and Community High School, Araromi Rubber Estate.
In his remarks, the state Commissioner for Education, Mr Femi Agagu, expressed appreciation to RENL for its kind gesture.
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He said that the gesture had shown the readiness of the company to partner with government in providing qualitative education to students in the state.
Agagu, who was represented by Mr Olabanji Ogundele, the Area Education Officer, Odigbo Local Government, urged other firms and philanthropists to emulate RENL’s philanthropy.
In their separate speeches, Mr Tejumola Adeyelu and James Adebayo, the Principal of the Community High School and the Headmaster of Local Authority Primary School, expressed their gratitude to the management of RENL.
They promised to ensure that the students would make good use of the textbooks.
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