Maureen Okpe
As part of its social responsibilities and in giving back to the society the Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja, in a bid to tackle the increasing out of school children in Nigeria has among other public donations, gifted a school building to Sha’pe, community of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The gesture it stated was in line with the hotel’s “Travel with Purpose” goal to double social investment, and cut environmental footprint in half by 2030.
According to the E-Commerce Manager, Public Relations and Marketing Department Transcorp Hilton, Ijeoma Osuji, the choice communities is selected with the aim of expanding their scope of humanitarian services.
Osuji stated that, “in celebration of Hilton@100 we wanted to give back to our community, so we chose Sha’pe.
“From our investigation, we found out that the kids of Sha’pe community, Abuja, walked several miles to another community to attend school as they did not have one in their community.
“Their community chief was kind to provide a part of his home as a learning environment pending completion of a block of classroom the community began erecting.
Speaking further she disclosed that, “this is not the only community we have supported. Trancorp Hilton Abuja through our partnership with ACE Charity, have supported a number of communities including local community schools.
“We have supported Kuchingoro and Kado Kuchi communities through our Hilton Effect Foundation project which funded small scale businesses, Piyanko Village and Waru Community with clothes, linen supplies and recycled soaps.
“Also, Durumi Community Primary School where we renovated their classrooms and Maitama Model Primary School where we also carried out facelifts on their classrooms and erected a brand new convenience with all the required accessories, City Gate Primary School Durumi where we provided computers for the ACE Charity Learning Centre and a few others.
“While we visited Sha’pe community, we donated 100 School bags with basic school supplies and also made a commitment to provide the school kids a conducive learning environment which formed our decision to erect a 4-block classroom and a convenience. This project was executed and handed over in 2019.
“We have maintained regular follow ups with the community, and provided support wherever possible including donation of recycled soaps both for personal use and for small scale businesses.
“Recently, precisely during Hilton’s Travel with Purpose Week in October 2022, we carried out some renovation exercise on the block of classrooms and provided additional classroom desks while fixing the damaged ones, fixed the existing borehole and planted over 50 fruit trees as well as beautification plants.
The E-Commerce Manager reiterated that, “humanitarian gestures have no limit and we will always be happy to give back to our community where we live and work.”