Sir Emeka Offor awarded for drive to end polio in Nigeria

Sir Emeka Offor is the Chairman, Chrome Group of companies, a leading conglomerate with vast experience in oil and gas services, power, logistics and telecommunications.

As a humanitarian organisation, The Sir Emeka Offor Foundation was established in the mid-1990’s as a charitable, non-governmental establishment dedicated to helping people in need become independent and self-sufficient by reaching out to lift people up. One of the Foundation’s projects includes eradicating Polio from Nigeria.

The global war against poliovirus has been waged on many fronts for more than 500 years with punctuated accelerations and decelerations. Now, in these modern times, poliovirus has been pushed back to the volatile terrains of Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

Nigeria was declared Polio-free for a year and Sir Offor is one of those who played a huge part in that area, even though a few new cases have been announced recently by the Ministry of Health. 

UNICEF collaborated with Rotary International and The Sir Emeka Offor Foundation to produce an ingenious audio device, a speaking book, called “Yes to Health, No to Polio.” 

The Foundation’s commitment of a total of $152,000 (N60.8 million) covered for the production of 15,000 copies of dual language (Hausa and English) audio books. The Speaking Books are expected to impact 1.5 million households, as each Volunteer Community Mobilizer visits, on average, 100 households.

Endorsed by Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), the “Yes to Health, No to Polio” speaking book was targeted at the hard-to-reach communities in northern Nigeria where Polio is more prevalent.

The Foundation  donated $250,000 dollars to Rotary International to assist in its Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

The fight against Glaucoma is another health care initiative of the foundation and as a result, a €100, 000 Glaucoma research grant at the Department of Ophthalmology University of Mainz, Germany was established as well as a Nigerian fellowship for Cataract Surgery and Glaucoma Management at the same University.

Born of a humble parentage in the railway commercial nerve centre of Kafanchan in Kaduna state, the son of a policeman braved the odds to become the successful businessman, community leader, philanthropist and family man that he is today. A very humble and humane achiever, Offor is detribalized Nigerian who accords respect to the sanctity of life and the existence of God.

Sir Emeka Offor's foundation has provided $3.6m since inception to numerous initiatives and was awarded a prestigious recognition by the Rotary International.

2.5 billion children have been protected from the cruel impact of Polio because of Sir Emeka Offor's generosity.

Sources: Rotary International, Sir Emeka Offor Foundation, ThisDay Live.