Platform Petroleum Limited, an indigenous oil and gas exploration and production company, on Wednesday handed over a new building to the Geology Department of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
The event had the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, as Special Guest.
Kachikwu was joined by other distinguished guests such as Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, the Chairman of Platform Petroleum; Dr. ABC Orjiako, the Chairman of SEPLAT; Prof. O. Sylvester Adegoke; Dr. Bolaji Ogundare, the Managing Director, Newcross; and HRM, Dr. Edmund M. Daukoru.
The edifice, named Austin Avuru Building, was built and donated to the Department in honour of Austin Avuru, the first Chief Executive Officer of Platform Petroleum Limited and current CEO, SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company Plc, who graduated from the Department in 1980.
A statement signed by Amaechi Moshe, the Acting Group Managing Director of Platform Petroleum Holdings Limited, said the facility, “which is the first CSR initiative by Platform Petroleum Limited outside of its Umutu, Delta State, operation site came out of the desire of the company to support Mr. Avuru’s desire to reduce the huge infrastructural deficit at his alma mater”.
Moshe noted that things had become so bad in the Department of Geology to the extent that it was about to lose its academic accreditation.
The new building, according to the statement, is larger and more conducive than the old departmental building and will provide office space for lecturers as well as laboratories and lecture halls for students.
The gesture by the company is a reiteration of Platform Petroleum Limited’s commitment to creating value for the larger good of the society and the company is excited that the provision of this building will enhance quality of education for the staff and students of the Department of Geology.
The Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Benjamin Chukwuma Ozumba, thanked the company for the support and congratulated Avuru for being a worthy ambassador of the institution.
Ozumba assured his guests that the university will justify the resources invested in the new building.
He also enjoined other alumni to emulate Avuru and Platform Petroleum in helping to enhance the learning environment.
Also speaking, Kachikwu, another UNN alumnus, commended Platform Petroleum Limited for investing in the future of the Country.
The Minister congratulated the UNN community and the Geology Department in particular, and advised that the facility should be put to judicious use.
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