In September 2000, building upon a decade of major United Nations conferences and summits, the largest gathering of world leaders at United Nations Headquarters in New York adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration.
The Declaration, endorsed by 189 countries, committed their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and set out a series of targets to be reached by 2015 – that have become known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The eight MDGs – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV and providing universal primary education have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.
“[The MDGs] also embody basic human rights—the rights of each person on the planet to health, education, shelter and security. The Goals are ambitious but feasible and, together with the comprehensive United Nations development agenda, set the course for the world’s efforts to alleviate extreme poverty by 2015.”
- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
- Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
- Achieve Universal Primary Education
- Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
- Reduce Child Mortality
- Improve Maternal Health
- Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases
- Ensure Environmental Sustainability
- Develop a Global Partnership for Development
The goal of this programme is to generate at least one million books for distribution to primary and secondary school libraries in Nigeria.
The programme comprises three phases.
Phase 1:
The Foundation is launching a world-wide appeal for donation of books to help it establish a Book Bank. All categories of books are welcomed into the Bank. The books are sorted out according to various educational levels and disciplines. The books will be donated to schools all over Nigeria based on recommendations by our Grants Committee.
Phase 2:
The Foundation will campaign to increase educational awareness and reading culture in Nigeria and lobby government to increase funding for education. The Foundation would also partner with international organisations and agencies that support the UNESCO’s ‘Education for All (EFA)’ initiative.
Phase 3:
The third phase of DAB is to encourage everyone to donate a book, and we are developing a website, donateabook.com, dedicated to encouraging as many people as possible to contribute their book, whether diaries, letters, novels, short stories, poems, essays, or any other form, to share with visitors to the site, their friends, family and colleagues, thus stimulating reading awareness through writing.
Pictures of the DAB launch at Govt. Secondary School, Garki, Abuja on World Book Day, 03.03.11
Background
- The 2006 National Schools Census suggested that about 5 million Nigerian children aged 6 to 11 do not access primary education.
- In 2009 the Director General of the UNESCO, Mr Koichiro Matsuura, estimated the number of children out of school in Nigeria to be 6 million.
- In 2010 a report by the Global Campaign for Education claimed that over 8 million children in Nigeria were out of school.
- In 2010 UNESCO estimated that “the resources available for education in sub-Saharan Africa may have fallen by US$4.6 billion a year on average in 2009 and 2010”.
The past governments in Nigeria have not given adequate attention to the level of illiteracy in Nigeria and the declining state of schools. The situation has reached a crisis dimension such that the present government has now proposed to set up a Presidential Commission on Education.
Textbooks have frequently been replaced by lecturers’ handouts because most of the books are too expensive for students to buy. Unfortunately the availability of information communication technology is not yet widespread, such that electronic versions of printed materials are not widely obtainable in Nigeria.
Accelerating the movement towards the education MDGs will catalyse improvements in most of the other MDGs, especially those focusing on poverty reduction and health.
It is in recognition of this state of affairs and in furtherance of the educational philanthropic activities of our Patron that Alex Ekwueme Foundation presents the “Donate a Book Scheme” (DAB).
FUNDRAISING
The strategy is to collect books of all sorts from individuals and organisations across the world. The Foundation would solicit initial seed funds from potential beneficiaries towards the cost of the logistics involved in the procurement and distribution of the books. In the medium and long term, we hope to seek the sponsorship of corporations, regional donors and international agencies towards the achievement of the objectives of this scheme.
PARTNERSHIPS
The Foundation seeks to make partnerships with key players in Nigeria working in all areas of the Millennium Development Goals, especially in the areas of education, poverty eradication, and social and economic development.
SUSTAINABILITY AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
Building on experience gained through this scheme, the Foundation’s strategy for the future will be threefold.
- To increase overall educational awareness in Nigeria and generate a reading culture among students, especially those from poor and deprived backgrounds.
- To influence policy makers at both state and national level in Nigeria towards favourable educational policies that would promote inclusion of those out of school.
- To create and operate an Endowment Fund for the continuation of the scheme and other educational programmes of the Foundation. Funds would be sought from individuals and organisations who share the vision of the Foundation.
Pictures of the DAB launch at Govt. Secondary School, Garki, Abuja on World Book Day, 03.03.11
ALEX EKWUEME FOUNDATION
The Foundation promotes the ideals, values and legacies of Dr Alex Ekwueme GCON, first Vice President of Nigeria. Dr Ekwueme, a well-rounded and brilliant scholar, attended Kings College, Lagos, and the Universities of Washington, London, and Strathclyde in Glasgow. He also studied in University of Nigeria Nsukka and Abia State University at Uturu. From these universities, Dr Ekwueme obtained Bachelor’s degrees in Architecture; Sociology; History, Philosophy & Constitutional Law; Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Law; a Master’s degree in Urban Planning; and a PhD in Architecture.
In the public sector in Nigeria, Dr. Ekwueme has served as Chairman, All Politicians Summit, 1995; Founder and Chairman, Institute of Civil Society, 1996; Chairman, G-34; Pioneer Chairman of the ruling party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP); Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees; Chancellor, University of Ado-Ekiti.
Dr Ekwueme was the founder of the first indigenous architectural firm in Nigeria. He also founded The Ekwueme Memorial Educational Trust Fund which has sponsored more than 500 students in both local and foreign universities.
The Foundation is based in Abuja, Nigeria with an international office in London, United Kingdom. It is governed by a Management Team and a Board of Trustees comprising eminent Nigerians with Ambassador Dr M T Mbu as its Chairman.
In 2009 the Foundation organised an international summit on local terrorism and kidnapping, attended by the then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, Terry Waite CBE, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the Inspector General of Police and other interested parties. The communiqué emanating from the Summit was part of the package for the federal government amnesty in the Niger Delta.
There are many ways in which individuals and organisation can help in promoting the activities of Alex Ekwueme Foundation.
Many corporate establishments or charitable foundations choose to make a straightforward corporate donation to the Foundation.
We work closely with such partners to decide how to use the funds and the level of publicity to be given to the donation.
