PROGRAMS AND EVENTS

American Embassy to Open New Corner, Donate More Books

Date: August 12, 2007
Venue: Bauchi, Bauchi State

CPAO Atim George during the lecture | Full size

The United States Embassy in Nigeria has concluded arrangements to open a new American Corner and continue its book donation program to select schools in Nigeria’s North East region.  The Embassy’s Counselor for Public Affairs, Atim Eneida George who led a team of Embassy officials to the region and met with Governors Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State, Ali Modu Shariff of Borno State, and the Gombe State Commissioner for Education made this disclosure.  

On Sunday, August 12, the Counselor for Public Affairs joined the Bauchi State Governor, Malam Isa Yuguda to sign a new MOU for the Bauchi American Corner, which is located inside the Professor Iya Abubakar Community Resource Center at the Bauchi State Library Complex.  Governor Yuguda expressed happiness with the operation of the Corner and promised to provide additional facilities to accommodate the growing number of visitors.

Speaking with Governor Shariff on Wednesday, August 15, in Maiduguri, Ms. George said that the American Corner will be set up in the main library of the University of Maiduguri.  She explained that the Corner will be a partnership between the Embassy and the host institution, and will contain collections of resource materials, including internet and an e-greenery that provide a window for interested individuals to learn more about the United States of America.  The Embassy’s Spokesperson added that with the commissioning of the Maiduguri Corner in September, Nigeria will have a total of twelve American Corners situated in Abeokuta, Calabar, Ibadan, Enugu, and Port Harcourt in Southern Nigeria, and Abuja, Bauchi, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto and Maiduguri in the North. 

Ms. Atim George discussed with the governor the Embassy’s book donation program to eight schools in Borno State.  She remarked that under the book donation program initiated by the former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, in Kano last June, 60 secondary schools in northern Nigeria will receive over eleven thousand volumes.  Each set of books for the schools will consists of 198 titles and a secondary collection of over 100 books.  Other states that will benefit from the donation include Gombe, Niger, Sokoto, and Katsina. 

At the University of Maiduguri, the team paid a courtesy visit to the Vice Chancellor, Professor J.D. Amin, and inspected the site of the American Corner which has already started providing services to the university community.   Ms. George participated in a discussion on the “Power of Citizen Driven Development” with faculty and students of the university while another member of the team, Economic Officer, Gregory Moore, spoke on the dire need for private housing in Nigeria, using a comparative analysis of the Kenyan and Nigerian housing market. 
 
At the Gombe State University, the team was received by the Acting Vice Chancellor, Professor Sani Abba Aliyu.  Ms. George returned to the theme of Citizen Driven Development, and spoke to young students, on the “new Nigerian factor”, focusing her remarks on the achievements of Nigerians in a myriad of different areas.