Abuja, Nigeria- Senator Jonathan L. Kaipay of Grand Bassa County has hailed the huge humanitarian gesture of an influential Nigerian humanitarian and politician, Senator Rochas Okorocha, says a dispatch from the Liberian Embassy.
The Liberian lawmaker, who honored a special invitation from his Nigerian counterpart to attend series of activities marking the latter’s 59th birth anniversary, lauded particularly Senator Rochas’ educational gestures to hundreds of underprivileged African kids, among them 10 Liberian students.
They are attending the Imo State-based Rochas Foundation College for Africa (ROFOCA), a release from Abuja said over the weekend.
Now a Senator representing Imo State’s West Senatorial District at the National Assembly in Abuja, Honorable Okorocha is the immediate past Governor of Imo State. He established the Rochas Foundation as a charity comprising a network of schools all over Nigeria that provide scholarship and succor to less privileged children from Nigeria and other African states including Liberia.
Liberian students pose for photo with both Lawmakers
Making a special presentation in Abuja recently at a dinner organized by the Rochas Foundation for its students as part of the Senator’s birth anniversary events, Senator Kaipay said: “Your Excellency, on behalf of the people of Liberia in general and the people of the great county of Grand Bassa, we are very grateful for the gesture of helping our students here at the Rochas Foundation College of Africa. We present this gift that symbolizes the strong bilateral ties between Nigeria and Liberia which shows that both countries are one. We still appreciate the role that your country Nigeria played in our civil crisis and the peace that we enjoy today”.
Joined on the stage by the ten Liberian students and Dr. Clarence K. Moniba, former Deputy Minister of States without Portfolio, Senator Kaipay presented a gold-plated plaque depicting a two-handshake image, with both the Liberian and Nigerian flags on both sides, according to the release.
Prior to the presentation, the Liberian students were recipients of medals engraved ‘Senator Kaipay’s Academic Excellence Awards to Liberian Students At ROFOCA’. The medals which the Nigerian celebrant, Senator Rochas placed on the neck of each of the Liberian batch was Senator Kaipay’s way of awarding his younger compatriots for keeping the Liberian flag high among other African countries’ batches at the ROFOCA.
“Your Excellency, on behalf of the people of Liberia, we want to say thank you and we wish to say happy birthday for the gift of love that you are giving to the Liberian students for the level of free and quality education you are giving to them and hundreds more from other parts of the African continent”, Senator Kaipay said to Senator Rochas as the celebrant placed the medals of ‘Academic Excellence’ around the neck of each Liberian student.
Meanwhile, Senator Kaipay and Dr. Moniba held a separate brief meeting with the Liberian students in which they encouraged them to do well both academically and behavioral-wise.
“All ten of you are here today because you want to acquire quality education. The importance of education cannot be overemphasized. That is why I am here today because I am educated. Dr Clarence Moniba is at this level now because he is educated. Your benefactor, Honorable Rochas, is at where he is today because of education. So, you see the importance of education which you all have to take very serious and make your country proud?” Senator Kaipay stated.
The students, in response, through their representative Hawa M. Karsieh thanked Senator Kaipay and Dr. Moniba for the gesture and promised to do well during their academic mission in Nigeria.
The Rochas Foundation selected the ten teenagers in two batches in 2017 and 2018 respectively as part of a scholarship program for indigent and orphaned African children. Aged between 10 to 17 years, the students are Musu M. Massaquuoi, Hawa M. Karsieh, Ida T. Suehn, Abdullai Farsarwuo, and Kokulo S. Mulbah, who are now in the 11th Grade at the school.
The others are Ninth Grade students Martha M. Banto, Rita Baryogar, Obediah Bondo and Esther K. Salee, and Blessing Ballah, who was promoted to the ninth grade.