Respite has come the way of staff and management of St. Theresa’s Catholic Church Madalla bombed by the Boko Haram on December 25 2011 as SystemSpecs, the developers of Remita, recently commissioned a new ultra-modern library for its school.
The construction, although funded by SystemSpecs, was birthed by Oluwatimilehin Michael Ayoh, a young undergraduate after whom the library has been named. At that time of the incident, Ayoh did not know how he could help to salvage the situation: “My challenge was how do I, as a fourteen-year-old high-school freshman, begin to attack this monumental and highly daunting task of eradicating religious strife?”
“On my first visit to the church, I witnessed the aftermath of the horrific attack. My initial shock and disbelief quickly morphed into sadness and empathy because my father works and lives only 30 minutes away from the bomb site, yet I was so far from understanding how the people on the margins of society live, and the struggles that they face,” Ayoh said.
As Ayoh’s visit to the school became constant, he confirmed how he could contribute and has since donated more than one hundred books of various kinds to the school’s library.
Speaking on the development, the parish priest and community head, Rev. Fr. Raphael Imelo described the contributions of SystemSpecs and Oluwatimilehin Ayoh as “a thing of joy and a boost in the efforts to educate posterity. The entire community here is delighted that God brought our way someone like Timi who has given us so much joy.”
SystemSpecs, the sponsors of the initiative, is one of Nigeria’s leading financial technology firms widely known for its flagship product, Remita, the electronic payment platform that helps individuals, businesses and governments to easily receive and make payments.
Commenting on behalf of the organisation, its Divisional Head, Branch Management, Uche Obiofuma said: “As an organisation, we consider this stride as one of our contributions to the furtherance of the Nigerian project. It is our belief that by advancing the acquisition of knowledge and the creation of a conducive learning environment, we are helping to secure a bright and rewarding future for our beloved country.”
Now twenty years old, Timi Ayoh has taken the St. Theresa’s community as his. It is his desire to substantially contribute to the resolution of the problem of religious violence and intolerance in Nigeria. “The tragic bombing of St. Theresa’s sparked a fire in my spirit. I am not done yet,” he said.
