Deputy Governor of the state, who stood in for the Governor,
Abdulraham Abdulrasaq, lauded the ADF
empowerment programme and described it as part of the key economic tools needed
toboost the socio-economic activities of the rural areas, and ultimately the
state.
He said “This Aliko Dangote Foundation empowerment programme
will impact positively on the socio-economic activity of our state. We are so pleased with this and cannot thank
Aliko Dangote enough. We don’t want
people to come and unnecessarily populate the urban areas, we want to encourage
people to stay in the rural areas and add value to the respective lives and
also to the state economy. This indeed is a noble gesture”
Dangote’s Group Executive Director, Government and Strategic
Relations, Eng. Ahmed Mansur, who represented Aliko Dangote said “…To Aliko
Dangote, whom much is given, much is expected. Dangote is being blessed by
Allah and he enjoys sharing some of his blessings with the people around him.
This investment in the rural areas will circulate well in this rural areas and
also boost the economy of the state eventually…We are going to do this on all
the local governments in Nigeria.
In the same vein, the Managing Director and Chief executive
of ADF, Zouera Youssoufou, explained that the empowerment programme is an
ongoing activity of the Foundation and that while some Local Governments have
been covered already, all rural women in the local governments, across the the
country will benefit from this noble gesture from Aliko Dangote.
She said: ” the focus is on women because we all need to
note that once you support a woman, you are supporting the whole family and the
multiplier effect of that will be very great… We have done several states in
the past and today we are also doing for kwara, empowering 1,000 women for each
of the 16 local governments in kwara. Each of the women gets 10,000 each, to be
disbursed immediately and concluded within the next three weeks all across the
state.
It would be recalled that the same ADF recently launched a major philanthropic programme in
Zamfara State, doling out food items running into several millions of naira to
support victims of insurgency.
The farmers-herders clash and sporadic attacks by cattle
rustlers have displaced thousands, many of whom are currently seeking refuge at
Maradun Local Government Area of the State.
According to official reports over 3,000 people have been
killed, about 100,000 displaced, of which about 30,000 are in Maradun LG, and
over 500 people kidnapped.
Group Executive Director Government Relations and Strategic
Relations Mansur Ahmed who presented the food items on behalf of the Group
President Aliko Dangote said the Foundation was supporting the government and
traditional leaders in meeting the needs of the IDPs.
Only recently Mr. Dangote was rated the world’s 6th largest
donors, and Africa’s richest person for almost a decade. His Aliko Dangote
Foundation has been endowed with a staggering $1.25billion. He was also listed
by Forbes Magazine among the 75 people that make the world turn.
Dangote Foundation had also injected over N7billion to
create succor in North East in the wake of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Mr. Ahmed, an Engineer, said Mr. Dangote was very disturbed
about the plight of the displaced persons and quickly directed that everything
possible is done to provide succor.
Mr. Ahmed said the company was building a 200000-ton
capacity of rice mill in Maradun and that when completed this year it would
create hundreds of job opportunities for the people of Zamfara State.
Responding, the Emir of Maradun Muhammad Garba Tambari said
he was highly elated as the company is the first to intervene by providing food
support for displaced persons.
He commended Mr Dangote for the gesture and promise to help
secure his investment in his Emirate.
Chairman of the Maradun Local Government Alhaji Yahayah
Shehu Maradun thanked the Dangote Foundation for the gesture and pray God to
continue to bless the Dangote business.
It would also be recalled that the Federal government, also
recently revealed that the N1.2billion hostel donated by the Aliko Dangote
Foundation to Ahmadu Bello University Zaria is the single largest donation by
an individual in the history of Universities in Nigeria.
Executive Secretary of the National University Commission
(NUC) Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed who represented President Muhammadu
Buhari at the commissioning of the Aliko Dangote Hall extended the Federal
Government’s appreciation to the President of the Dangote Group.
The President said: “You have done what no other Nigerian
has done since 1948 when the first university was founded. This is the single
largest intervention by any individual in any university in this country in the
70 years history of our university. So I congratulate Alhaji Aliko Dangote.”
A visibly elated Governor of Kaduna State Nasir Ahmad
el-Rufai who is also an alumnus of the university hailed Alhaji Aliko Dangote
for the giant project.
He described Dangote’s generosity as unprecedented,
especially his support for education.
Speaking the Vice-Chancellor of the University Professor
Ibrahim Garba said Mr. Dangote will
forever remain dear to the Ahmadu Bello University.
He added:” The student population of ABU is over 50,000,
made up of about 35,000 undergraduates and about 15,000 postgraduates. Every
year, 11,500 undergraduates and about 6,000 postgraduates are admitted while
about 6,000 undergraduates and 3,000 postgraduates respectively graduate. In
any one academic year, we are only able to accommodate about 13,000 students on
our two campuses.”
The Vice Chancellor said:” We are happy that Alhaji Aliko
Dangote has fulfilled the pledge he made in 2016 to build 10 blocks of hostels
for Ahmadu Bello University’s student to improve their living condition.
“We may accommodate six students per room. This will
certainly go a long way in ameliorating the accommodation scarcity bedeviling
the university.
“We thank Alhaji Aliko Dangote for his intervention, we thank member of the Aliko Dangote Foundation and the entire Dangote Family. This is unprecedented for us we can’t ask for anything more except if he thinks of anything he wants to add on his own volition.”
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