The Lagos State University (LASU) chapter of Junior Chamber International (JCIN) has donated books worth thousands of naira to the institution as part of its corporate social responsibility.
According to the President of the chapter, Ms. Fransisca Oyindamola Aina, the gesture is one of the ways the organization affects its immediate community, adding that the books have been carefully selected to aid the knowledge of the students in entrepreneurship and motivate them to strive to be the best.
Oyindamola emphasized that JCIN provides development opportunities for young people between the ages of 18 and 40 so that they could be useful to their environments.
“We in JCIN give back to our community; it is a community-based organization. Whatever you learn, you have to give back to your community. The project is community-based, LASU is our community, and we are giving back to the school. We identified a problem and we tried to solve it. They are not just academic books, they are books on entrepreneurship, wealth creation, motivation and management that can help the students to grow,” she stated.
On sources of funds for the project, Oyindamola revealed that members were encouraged to donate books apart from paying their membership dues. Sponsorship, she said also helps a lot as former collegiate members, who have now graduated to be city local members, support the association with money and materials, adding that her association can boast of 30 members, while efforts are still being made to increase the membership figure.
While disagreeing that reading culture is declining in Nigeria, Oyindamola said that students are willing to read, and that the books donated are not strictly academic, but books that will benefit them to become self-employed after graduation.
She declared that graduates members of the association come together as JCI local of which there are JCI Festac, Ikeja, Ikoyi, Lagos Royal and in other parts of the country.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) of LASU, Professor Bamgbose, who represented the Vice-Chancellor during the donation, said that LASU JCIN is doing very well, stressing that the school would continue to support students with positive minds.
In his submission, the National President of JCI, Ambassador David Eka (Jnr.) promised that his association would continue to support the chapter and disclosed that JCI would paint the LASU library during the school’s students’ union week.
The International Vice-President of JCI, Mr. Samuel Moyo, who was also at the event, said that the association is existing to affect its environment. He stated that JCI would always be around for such things, and that JCIN is different from the normal students’ bodies. “They come up with solutions to problems, we are there to assist them and we believe that we must work hand in hand to help the community. We just want you to help the association with a meeting place, they are not giving to complaints, it is for them to help the community,” he said.
Expressing appreciation to the students for the gesture, the Librarian of the school, (Dr.) Mrs. Adigun promised that the books would continue to occupy a special place in the library, adding that the staff would take good care of them and ensure the students make adequate use of them.