Dangote builds 200 housing units for IDPs in North-East, new hostel for ABU
Barely one week after it gave out a total of 150 cars laced with security tracking devices to the Nigeria Police in Abuja, Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF), weekend the foundation revealed that it has concluded preparation to commission a multi-billion naira housing estate, built for the rehabilitation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in parts of the insurgency ravaged areas in the North East.
The commissioning of the 200 housing units for IDPs in Borno which has been slated for later this month according to the CEO of Aliko Dangote Foundation, Mrs. Zouera Youssoufou is coming even as the Foundation has also completed the construction of a state-of-the-art hostel in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.
The 10 block of hostel has the capacity to accommodate 1,440 students conveniently.
On the 10 blocks of hostel constructed for the ABU, the Group Executive Director, Stakeholders Management and Corporate Communication of the Dangote Group, Engr. Ahmed Mansur, said the Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the Chairman of the Foundation was not resting on his oars, as he plans to up his stakes in the act of philanthropy.
The Ahmadu Bello University is the biggest university in sub-saharan Africa, and topped the 2018 ranking of Nigerian universities.
Engr. Mansur said no date has yet been fixed for the commissioning of the newly built 10-blocks of hostel and that Group has and would continue to contribute enormously to the educational sector in Nigeria.
He recalled that Dangote Group had spent well over N4 billion in building classrooms, scholarship programmes and upgrading infrastructure across various University among others.
According to him, “We have just recently commissioned the Dangote Business School in Kano, the only Business School in Nigeria that is well equipped. We will also be commissioning similar projects in University of Ibadan, we have done quite a lot in the education system and we are looking to do more”.
“Investing in the young people to us means, we are all working together to build a better Nigeria. In equipping Nigeria youths and prepare them for the 21st century challenges, we established the Dangote Academy in Kogi State, which provide specialized training and management skills for the youths particularly considering the large man power needed in the manufacturing industries,” he said.
While adding that “Our ultimate goal is to promote rapid industrialization of Nigeria, using our own local talents,” the National President of the Ahmadu Bello University Alumni Association, Professor Ahmed Tijani Mora who expressed gratitude for the students’ accommodation further described the President of the Dangote Group Aliko Dangote as a ‘dedicated philanthropist.’
Mrs. Youssoufou who made the disclosure at an event in Maiduguri, Borno state stated that the housing units is one of the many critical interventions the Foundation had mapped out for execution in the North Eastern part of Nigeria to restore life to the area and help IDPs live a normal life again.
Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State while reacting to this development said Mr. Dangote is the single largest benefactor of the IDPs after the Federal and state governments.
The Governor stated that Dangote’s contribution does not only stop at feeding and clothing the IDPs which he has been doing over the years, it also stretches to resettling and rehabilitating them, a feat no other private organization has been able to match.
Business Hilights recalls that recently, the Foundation flagged off its 2018 Ramadan Food distribution in the state with the distribution of food items worth N150 million to some 200 households from Dalori Community in the state. The items include: Rice, Sugar, Salt, Spaghetti, Semolina, Wheat Meal, Maize and Millet.
