A Nigerian-born United States of America (USA)-based medical practitioner, Dr. Emeka Boris Oji, has again, donated international medical journals and books to the Abia State University (ABSU), Uturu, Abia State, Nigeria.
Dr. Boris Oji, a practicing physician and immediate past International President of Zenith Environmental and Social Protection Network (ZESPRONET), an association of Alumni of ABSU), has been donating these professional, mostly by subscription books and journals to the university since 2010.
The priceless collection this time, was received on behalf of the University by Professor Stephen .N. Onwere, the Provost of the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at ABSU.
Dr. Oji, who as International President of ZESPRONET led his fellow alumni to prosecute multi-million Naira projects for the University, including the construction and donation of a state-of the art postgraduate hall of residence and provision of solar lights throughout the college campus (via operation light up ABSU by the North America Alumni), said he started donating these otherwise hard to get journals and books to the institution after an encounter with Professor E. U. Ikonne, the then Dean of the College of Medicine.
According to him, he asked Prof. Ikonne, a Professor of Optometry (the course he studied at ABSU), how he could be supportive of the institution and was told that they were having difficulties enrolling in virtual libraries or in paying subscription for international journals due to scarce resources and exchange rate issues.
He promised he would subscribe to as many organizations and professional institutions as possible and request hard copies of their journals to be sent to the University to help staff and students to have access to evidence based/research backed studies, so that they can be up to date with current developments in their fields of study.
Since 2010, he has continued to keep to his promise. He did it through out the tenure of Prof. Ikonne who went on to become ABSU Vice Chancellor, and continued during the tenure of Prof. Onyemachi Maxwell Ogbulu as Vice Chancellor, and is continuing with the current Vice Chancellor, Professor Ndukwe J. Okeudo.
At an average cost of between $5,000 (Five Thousand USD ) and $8000 (Eight Thousand USD) per shipment, Dr. Boris Oji has continued, year after year, to quietly contribute substantially to the training of manpower in the University that can compete favorably with their contemporaries globally.
He told newsmen that all he has been doing thus far are a drop of water in the ocean compared to what needs to be done for ABSU and other such institutions of higher learning in the South East zone of Nigeria, in Nigeria as a whole and, indeed, in Africa. He hopes that what he is doing can encourage some other people who are similarly privileged to also contribute.
“It’s been a labor of love that is just scratching the surface but I know that what I am doing is important in the education of medical students and staff,” he stressed insisting that “you never can tell who it will spur into action. Nothing is too big or small to give to public schools, especially in Nigeria.”
All he has done so far, including his contributions to the construction of the post graduate hostel, the solar lights and the tree planting project have been “sustained through sacrifices and the support of my family,” assuring that he intends to continue giving back to his alma mater “until the forseeable future.”
Source: GPNews
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