Member of the University of Ghana Parliament House, Martin Agbefia, who is also known as the ‘People’s Man’ has started an initiative called ‘One fresher One Book’ campaign, which aims to distribute 5000 exercise books free of charge to freshmen at the University of Ghana as a heartfelt welcome gesture.
A third-year student at the University of Ghana pursuing a degree in Economics and Geography, Martin is also a member of the Educational Committee of the Geography Department Student Association and the University of Ghana Parliament House, where he has consistently demonstrated his interest in promoting academic excellence and student welfare.
Speaking on Campus Exclusive, he expounded on his motivation for embarking on that initiative, which he described as a welcome token for freshers and his intrinsic desire to be generous to his colleagues.
“I learned that nobody has ever done that before. You know, when you come to a typical Ghanaian home, as a stranger, they offer you water and whatever things that you enjoy in that home is incurred by the person you are visiting. So that is why me too, I came up with this to welcome the freshers, as a welcome token to them,” he said.
“We have started and it’s about 5,000 exercise books we plan to distribute, and we have already distributed some… we procured about half of the amount we want to distribute, and people are really, really accepting it. And I’m so happy about that,” he added.
Martin is also hopeful that this initiative will positively and effectively impact the academic journey of the 2023/2024 freshmen at the University of Ghana.
“Coming to a new environment, most of them are not used to the community, so we have to find a way to integrate them, to accept them, to feel that they are home…so the book is actually going to let them know that they are connected to us, even the continuing students, they are connected to the school that they’ve come into, so it is not to say that the book is just for publicity or for, let’s say, to project myself, no, but to help them in the academics.”
Story by: George Dwumfour Boateng | univers.ug.edu.gh
