Akingbola's N40m Hostel At Uniben For Commissioning.

Akingbola's N40m hostel at UNIBEN for commissioning

THE N40 million naira students' hostel built by Intercontinental Bank Plc for the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Benin City, Edo State is billed for commissioning on Saturday, July 21, 2007.

The commissioning is expected to be done by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

The 120-bedroom space students' hostel named after the bank's Group Chief Executive, Erastus B.O. Akingbola, is a continuation of the partnership between Intercontinental Bank and Nigerian universities geared towards giving the nation's educational sector a facelift.

It is also a part of the bank's infrastructure improvement project in the universities under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme.

The new hostel being commissioned as part of activities marking the convocation of UNIBEN is the second hostel facility to be constructed by the bank at the university. It had earlier completed a N30 million hostel facility in the same university in 2004.

As part of its efforts to alleviate the huge inadequacies in scholarship and academic infrastructure, the bank has embarked on an intensive programme of building ultra modern, multi floor, student hostels and other academic infrastructure in various universities.

To date, it has extended this policy of social investment to 15 universities at a cost of over N800 million. The bank intends to imprint its social vision in every public university in Nigeria. The bank has also given out scholarships to thousands of students over the years.

In the area of education alone, the bank, according to a statement is said to have spent well over N600 million in the last three years for awards of scholarships and building of multi-floored hostels for students in several Nigerian universities.