A former Minister of Defence, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd.), on Saturday, donated a 500-capacity female hostel in the name of his wife, Daisy Danjuma, to the University of Benin.
Inaugurating the storey building at the Ugbowo campus of the institution, Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State said the “donation is another testament to Danjumas’ philanthropy and desire to always uplift the downtrodden.”
The governor stated that Danjuma was one of the few individuals that made huge amounts of donations to the state during the outbreak of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic three years ago.
Obaseki, who said the state government had assisted the school in the area of road construction in its community, urged other individuals and private organisations to continue to support tertiary institutions with infrastructure to improve teaching and learning.
He said, “The donor always shows concern with the plight of the Nigerian youths, particularly in education; hence, the provision of the accommodation for female students.”
In her remark, Senator Daisy Danjuma, whom the edifice was named after, expressed delight with the project.
She, however, urged students who would be accommodated at the hostel to maintain the facility.
She said maintenance was one of the challenges of infrastructure development in the country, thereby appealing to the students to ensure the hostel was taken care of, while also urging them to engage in activities that would make the school a model for others.
The Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Lilian Salami, earlier in her address, commended the gesture of the donor towards addressing the shortage of hostel accommodation for students in the school.
Salami said, “The aim of the management is to have 80 per cent of its students on campus and we can only achieve that with the kind gesture of good-spirited individuals like Gen. Danjuma.”
Senator Danjuma also laid the foundation of another hostel for female students, which was performed by the Minister for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire.
