Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote through his foundation has continued to redefine philanthropy and social deeds in Nigeria as he donated N2 billion worth 200 house units to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Maiduguri, Borno State capital.
The Dangote village is provided with school, hospital, irrigation farms and poultry farms among others. in addition, Dangote also gave each of the beneficiaries N100,000 to start a new life.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony on Monday, chairman of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, Aliko Dangote said about N7 billion has been donated to support displaced persons affected by the Boko Haram crisis in the North-east.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony, Governor of Borno State said, “In every clime and in every dispensation, there are three layers of governments: the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. I dear to add that the fourth layer in Borno State is the Aliko Dangote Foundation. For the past seven years, the Foundation has been consistent and hearkening to the yearnings and aspirations of people of the state.”
He said the Dangote Village provided by the Foundation, though very massive, is a ‘tip of the iceberg’ compared to what the Foundation has done to support humanitarian relief in the troubled region.
“When Aliko Dangote came in 2016, he quickly pledged N2billion. We requested that half of the money should be used to supplying building materials and behold within the span of two weeks all the materials were ready,” he added.
Managing Director/CEO of Aliko Dangote Foundation, Zouera Youssoufou, speaking at the ceremony said the foundation would not rest on its oars to support the victims of the insurgency. She said during Ramadan the foundation distributed food items such as rice, sugar, salt, spaghetti, semolina, wheat meal, maize and millet to the IDPs.
“We are supporting government reconstruction and rehabilitation effort,” she said.
