The Chairman of Dangote Group and Africa’s foremost businessman, Aliko Dangote has donated food items worth more than N200 million to the Internally Displaced People in Borno State. The gesture which will take care an estimated 371, 000 IDPS is to complement government’s humanitarian interventions.
The food will take care of an estimated 371,000 IDPs. The philanthropic Billionaire said he had always felt for those in the IDP camps and that the donation became more urgent given that it is Ramadan period.
The business mogul who made the donation of the items through his Foundation, The Aliko Dangote Foundation, pledged that he would be willing to complement any government efforts designed to ameliorate the suffering of the IDPs anywhere.
NAN reported that the Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Zouera Youssoufou, who made the donation and distribution of the food materials on behalf of Dangote, explained that the gesture was part of the Foundation’s humanitarian efforts contributing to the well-being of Nigerians in need.
“This gesture is in continuation of the Group’s efforts to provide succor to Internally Displaced Persons in Borno State”, she stated.
According to her, the decision to bring the food items down to Borno was to demonstrate the Foundation’s undertaking “to ensure that the IDPs also have a successful Ramadan period just as their other Muslim counterparts in other parts of the world.”
“The Foundation, today, is providing food items worth N200 Million to support the IDPs in the state. The Items the Aliko Dangote Foundation have delivered include Rice, Spaghetti, Sugar, Salt, Millet, Maize, Noodles, Semolina and Wheat Meal”, she said.
The Governor of Borno state, Alhaji Kashim Shetima, who formally flagged off the distribution, thanked the Dangote Foundation for its continuous support to the people of Borno state, especially to the victims of insurgency.
Said he, “words are not enough to describe how grateful the people of Borno are to Alhaji Aliko Dangote and his Foundation, who has relentlessly come to support and share in our plight in our time of need.”
He asserted that since the inception of the insurgency, the Dangote Foundation remains the largest single individual donor to the IDPs in the state after the Federal and State governments.
Also, the Executive Chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency, Engr. Ahmed Satome, said that the Dangote Foundation is unique in the sense that it provides all classes of food required by the IDPs in line with the globally acceptable standards.
While commending the efforts of the Foundation, he said that a total of 371,000 individuals will benefit from this Ramadan intervention.
Other dignitaries at the occasion include the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly and other members of the Borno State Executive Council.
The Dangote group has since the advent of insurgency made donations of over N2bn to various IDPs camp across the country.
In the heat of the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria in 2014, Dangote Foundation donated the sum of N152, 956, 250 for the establishment of a National Ebola Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) at Yaba, Lagos. The EOC is a key part of the country’s response to curbing the outbreak of Ebola in Nigeria.
