The best foundation any one can lay for the future is one erected on the platform of good education. This was the eloquent statement made by Platform Petroleum on Wednesday June 28, 2017 at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
The occasion was the commissioning of a brand new, purpose-built Geosciences Department building donated by Platform Petroleum and built in honour of its pioneer Managing Director, Austin Avuru.
It was a momentous and joyous occasion that had the academic community of dons and students commending the oil company for providing a much improved teaching and learning environment for both the lecturers and students of the Department of Geology.
It was equally auspicious on account of the fact that the facility was not only built and named in honour of an alumnus, it was also commissioned by another illustrious alumnus, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.
Speaking at the commissioning an obviously elated Austin Avuru said “look behind me and you will see my old department where I graduated from 37 years ago. It almost lost its academic accreditation, so when Platform Petroleum asked what they could do in my honour I did not hesitate. It came as a huge relief to the department.”
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Benjamin Chukwuma Ozumba, acknowledged that Platform Petroleum has indeed “provided a solution to the dearth of staff offices, classrooms, laboratories and workshop in our Department of Geology and established a platform for making the Department a global Centre of excellence in the study of Geosciences.”
In his own comments, Chief (Barr) Dumo Lulu-Briggs, Chairman of Platform Petroleum said the company took up the challenge because of their belief in qualitative education.
According to him “the more equipped our children are the more inspired they would be to move the country to greater heights.”
Dr Ibe Kachikwu commended Platform Petroleum for the gesture while calling on other corporate citizens and alumni of Nigerian institutions to emulated Platform.
“The building is not significant only in terms of the mortar and bricks. It is significant in terms of what message it is sending. The message is that graduates of Nigerian Universities who study in the best schools and the best environments can produce the best results.”
The new building is larger and more conducive than the old departmental building and according to the Acting Group Managing Director of Platform, Moshe Amaechi, the idea is to “increase the quality of learning in the university and enhance the quality of education for the staff and students of the Department of Geology.”
And as if echoing that sentiment, a student said “we are very, very happy about the building because it is going to create a lot of things we didn’t have before.”
Platform Petroleum Group of Companies is an indigenous exploration and production oil and gas producing companies in Nigeria, who are committed to giving back to the society through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program.
