FIRST Bank of Nigeria Plc has donated the sum of N12.5 million to Bayero University, Kano.

The donation, in furtherance of First Bank's commitment to improving the quality of medical research in tertiary institutions, is dedicated as an endowment to a professional chair at the Paediatrics Department at the University. Mu'uta Ibrahim, a professor of Paediatrics is the chair occupant.

At the official presentation of a Peugeot 406 official car to the newly appointed chair, the Kano Area manager of the bank. Mr. Ajawan Hassan said that corporate social responsibility was a key commitment of the bank and that its activities in his regard stemmed from First Bank's determination to improve the overall well being of the society in which it operated.

Hassan explained that the bank instituted the University Endowment Programme Fund (UEPF) to enhance the quality of tuition, promote academic research and check the problem of brain drain through endowment of professional chair in Nigerian universities.

He disclosed that so far, the bank had endowed 15 professional chairs in Nigeria universities at a nominal value of N319 million.

Professor Ibrahim thanked First Bank for the endowment, promising that the gesture would aid him in carrying out more research in children's health. He pledged to make good use of the fund by his research team.

In his response, the Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, Professor Attahiru Jega, who was a former national president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), expressed appreciation for what he described as the "generous and consistent assistance of First Bank's to the university."

Jega said that the university was delighted to receive the vehicle, which would facilitate the duties of the chair occupant, adding that the university would ensure a prudent use of the bank's contribution to its development.

From an initial value of N7.5 million at the launch on May 21, 1997, First Bank's professorial chair in Paediatrics in Bayero University, Kano has risen to N12.5 million based on First Bank's Endowment structure. The chair occupant is entitled to an official car, an annual research grant of N1.5 million as well as chair maintenance allowance and cash prize for three best graduating students in the Department of Paediatrics.