NECO Extends CSR Projects to Traditional institutions in Niger Host Community

By YM Bina

National Examinations Council (NECO) has extended its Corporate Social Responsibility projects to host community traditional institutions and commissioned a newly constructed palace for the Mai Angwan Gidan Mangoro in Bosso local government of Niger state.

The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of NECO, Professor Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, who was equally turbaned as the Maji Dadin Gidan Mangoro during the commissioning of the befitting palace and his turbaning ceremony on Thursday in Minna.

Noted that the constructed was as part of Council’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives aimed to strengthen relationship with its host communities to enhance peaceful coexistence between them.

In his speech, the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Prof Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi said the construction of the palace reflected NECO’s conviction that corporate social responsibility must go beyond its primary mandate of examinations, certification and educational quality assurance.

He explained that a strong education system only thrives in communities that are stable, peaceful and well coordinated.

He however, emphasized that NECO would sustain its contribution to the welfare of its host communities, support traditional values and leadership, and promote development that would benefit both present and future generations.

According to him, “the newly constructed palace symbolises unity, cultural heritage and the enduring role of traditional institutions in strengthening social cohesion”.

Professor Wushishi said NECO’s CSR interventions had extended beyond the construction of the palace to other projects and programmes designed to improve the lives of people in its host and neighbouring communities as a.demonstration of NECO’s appreciation for the community’s support and cooperation over the years.

The NECO interventions, he said, include: the provision of motorised boreholes in Gidan Mangoro and Gbaganako communities, as well as the provision of two transformers each to Wushishi and Gidan Mangoro communities.

Others are; NECO/Industrial Training Fund (ITF) Community Skills Development Programme, which provided skills training for 20 beneficiaries in Gidan Mangoro, sponsorship of a school challenge programme and quiz competition among secondary schools in Niger, and facilitation of the conduct of NECO examinations in a secondary school in Gidan Mangoro among others.

In their separate remarks, the representative of the Emir of Minna Alhaji Umar Farouk Bahago the Sarkin- Samarin Minna Alhaji Garba Salihu, Hakim Bosso Alhaji Mua’azu Adamu Laka, the host and Mai- Angwan Gidan Mangoro Mallam Sani Zagi unanimously praised the uncommon foresight of Prof. Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi leadership for recognition of the host community with numerous interventions.