The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Dangote

  • Dangote builds N2b housing estate for IDPs

    THE Aliko Dangote Foundation has inaugurated the Dangote village built for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

    The gesture has been  described as another massive philanthropic gesture coming barley two weeks after the foundation donated 150 cars to the police.

    The Dangote village is a self-sufficient set of 200 housing units worth N2 billion, with school, hospital, irrigation farms and poultry farms among others, to enable the occupants make a living.

    Dangote also gave each of the beneficiary N100,000 to start a new life.

    The foundation’s chairman, Aliko Dangote, said about N7 billion has been donated to support displaced persons affected by the Boko Haram crisis in the Northeast.

    Besides the N100,000 to start a new life, Dangote also pledged that the  Foundation would take care of teachers’ emolument for five years and as well share in the burden of the ongoing educational revolution launched by the Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima.

    Dangote lauded the governor for ably running the state efficiently and paying salaries despite the security challenges.

    A visibly elated Shettima said the intervention was unprecedented by a single company, describing the Aliko Dangote Foundation as the fourth arm of government in the state.

    The governor noted that the Dangote Group is the single largest employer of labour outside government in Nigeria.

    His words: “In every clime and in every dispensation, there are three layers of governments: the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. I dare to add that the fourth layer in Borno State is the Aliko Dangote Foundation. For the past seven years, the Dangote  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, it was a small noticeable part compared to what the foundation had done to support humanitarian relief in the troubled region.

    “When Aliko Dangote came in 2016, he quickly pledged N2 billion. We requested that half of the money should be used to supplying building materials, and lo and behold, within the span of two weeks, all the materials were ready,” he added.

    The governor said it was the support from the foundation that enabled most of the displaced and malnourished victims of Boko Haram insurgency to survive.

    According to the governor, it was crucial to acknowledge Dangote’s generosity. He added that as fr he was concerned, Dangote is the world’s biggest philanthropist.

    He revealed that most of the beneficiaries are widows and children.

    “We call it Dangote village because it is a self-sustaining community with their own schools, clinics, mosques and livelihood,” he added.

    He thanked all the donors and added that Borno State is now opened for investors. The state, he added, is more peaceful than Lagos and Abuja.

    Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Prof. Baba Gana Umara said 95 per cent of the beneficiaries were widows, whose husbands were killed by the Boko Haram terrorists.

    Prof. Umara is the chairman of the distribution committee for the new Dangote village.

    He said the criterion for allocating a flat to the beneficiaries is to be a widow and having no fewer than five children.

    Hailing Dangote, he said the reconstruction effort was now on and that the infrastructural deficit was still huge.

    He said the European Union (EU), United Nations (UN) and World Bank had estimated that the infrastructural deficit caused by the insurgency in Borno alone was around $6.9 billion.

    He expressed optimism that with the kind of support from the likes of Aliko Dangote Foundation, the state will bounce back to normal before the year 2020.

    Chairperson of the State Emergency Management Agency Hajiya Ya Bawa Kolo expressed appreciation to the foundation on behalf of the Internally Displaced Persons.

    She assured that only deserving persons are beneficiaries.

    Ten beneficiaries were selected for symbolic presentation of certificates of occupancy.

    Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Aliko Dangote Foundation Zouera  Youssoufou said the foundation would not rest on its oars to support the victims of insurgency.

    Ms Youssoufou said earlier during Ramadan, food items were distributed to the IDPs include rice, sugar, salt, spaghetti, Semolina, wheat meal, maize and millet.

    She said the philanthropic exercise was meant to complement the effort of the state and the Federal governments.

  • Dangote is Africa’s most-admired brand

    Dangote Group has been adjudged the most-admired African brand by consumers.

    It took the prize ahead of telecommunication giant, MTN according to the South Africa-based Brand Leadership Movement in collaboration with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)

    The Dangote brand came tops in the fresh ranking of 100 best brands in Africa organized in Johannesburg, South Africa.

    The Brand Africa 100″ was established in 2010, in recognition of the growth of African brands, which were beginning to challenge global brands in Africa or lead global brands in new categories such as telecommunications.

    The objective of Brand Africa is to identify, acknowledge and promote African and global brands that are catalysts for Africa’s growth, reputation and value.

    The Brand Africa described Dangote Group as “the number one African brand”

    The Brand Africa 100 ranking is based on a survey among consumers 18 years and older. It was conducted in 23 countries across Africa.  The countries, representing all African economic regions, collectively account for 75 per cent of the population and the 74 per cent of the GDP of Africa.

    Chief Corporate Communication Officer of the Dangote Group Anthony Chiejina, said the management was not surprised at the ranking because the company has continuously deepened and delivered on its core values. The focus of the company, according to him, is to be a world-class enterprise that is passionate about the quality of life of the people and giving high returns to stakeholders.

    “And this philosophy is driven by values, which include customer service, entrepreneurship, excellence and leadership. In any of our subsidiaries, the focus is to provide local, value-added products and services that meet the ‘basic needs’ of the populace. Through the construction and operation of large scale manufacturing facilities in Nigeria and across Africa, the Group is focused on building local manufacturing capacity to generate employment, prevent capital flight and provide locally produced goods for the people.

    “The expansion of our business especially the Cement which has operations in 14 African countries including Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia, among others has added to popularity of our company and the products, Chiejina stated.

    African brands rose slightly to account for 17 per cent of the Top 100 brands in Africa, non-African brands retained their firm position in Africa with 83 per cent share of the Top 100 most admired brands in Africa.

  • Dangote urges private sector on women empowerment

    • Lifts 13,000 women in Nasarawa

    Dangote Group President, Aliko Dangote has urged private sector operators and the government to empower women to reduce poverty.

    Dangote said once women have been enabled to support their homes and families, poverty would  become a thing of the past.

    Speaking during the flagging-off the disbursement of N130million to 13,000 women in Lafia, Nasarawa State under the Aliko Dangote Foundation Micro-grant Scheme, he promised to spread wealth across the country, to reduce poverty.

    The scheme, according to Dangote, was one of the components of the economic empowerment programme of the foundation, aimed at providing the disadvantaged and vulnerable in the society with an unconditional N10, 000  transfer to boost their household income generation.

    “This we believe will help the beneficiaries meet their livelihood needs,” he said.

    He explained that the scheme, launched a few years ago, was targeted at a minimum of 1,000 women in each of the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the country.

    “It is estimated that we will spend about N10 billion on the scheme, some states with large population will get a little bit more than others,” he said.

    Dangote said the foundation started in 1993 with the belief that by supporting social and economic changes through strategic investment and interventions that improve the lives of the less privileged he would make a positive difference in the growth of the country’s economy.

    He said the four major goals of the foundation are -health and nutrition, education, economic empowerment and disaster relief.

    He said the foundation was partnering with Access bank to open bank accounts for the all the 13,000 beneficiaries in the state, so they can be issued with customised debit cards.

     

     

  • Dangote urges private sector empowerment for women

    President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has urged private sector operators and government at all levels to adequately empower women to reduce poverty.

    Dangote said once our women have been successfully empowered to support their homes and families, poverty would gradually become history.

    During the disbursement of N130 million to 13,000 women in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, under the Aliko Dangote Foundation micro-grant scheme, Dangote pledged to spread his wealth across the country to reduce poverty.

    The micro grant scheme, according to Dangote, was one of the components of the economic empowerment programme of the foundation.

    The foremost industrialist said the grant was aimed at providing the disadvantaged and the vulnerable in the society with an unconditional N10,000 cash transfer to boost their household income generation.

    “This, we believe, will help the beneficiaries to meet their livelihood needs,” he added.

    Dangote noted that the scheme, which was launched a few years ago, was targeted at a minimum of 1,000 women in each of the 774 local government areas of the country.

    He said: “It is estimated that we will spend about N10 billion on the scheme. Some states with large population will get a little bit more than others.”

    Dangote said he started the foundation in 1993 with the belief that by supporting social and economic changes through strategic investments and interventions that improve the lives of the less privileged, he would make a positive difference in the growth of the country’s economy.

    Africa’s richest man said the four major goals of the foundation are: health and nutrition, education, economic empowerment and disaster relief.

    Governor Umaru Al-Makura thanked Dongote for the gesture, which he described as strategic, considering the hardship currently pervading the society.

     

  • FG to set up creativity, technology council, says Osinbajo

    The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on Monday said the Federal Government would set up a Creativity and Technology Council to support innovation and startups in the creative industry.

    He said this when he visited an innovation hub, Ventures Partners, in Abuja.

    “What we are trying to do as a government is that we are setting up what is called the creativity and technology council.

    “We already have an industrial and competitiveness council where the likes of Dangote and the bigger businesses already advise on policy,’’ he said.

    He explained that in the industrial and competitiveness council which he chaired, bigger players in industry proffered solutions and advised on policies that could improve the nation’s business environment.

    He said that the industrial council had people already established in manufacturing and other industrial areas who develop and shape policies as well as bring out the challenges in the business environment.

    He said that the creative and technology advisory council would involve people doing startups, creative and entertainment industry.

    “Some of the policies that need to make this environment friendly and more interesting have to be developed by those innovation,’’ Osinbajo said.

    According to him, innovators have peculiar issues and unless someone experiencing such are able to seat with the CBN governor and the ministers of finance and trade and investment, it will not be easy to resolve them.

    “We are looking forward to doing this and I hope  in the next couple of weeks, we should have that council set up,’’ he hinted.

    On funding for startups, the vice president said some were already doing well there, including those in the Tony Elumelu Foundation, adding that more activities should be developed around the public sector.

    He said that with the social investment policy of the administration and collaboration with other stakeholders, more people could be brought into innovation.

    Osinbajo said that with the innovators, the country was heading toward more prosperity.

    He said that the administration was proud of the contributions of the innovators and would give them the necessary support.

    During a question and answer session, Osinbajo said that the administration was proposing state police and community policing for the citizenry.

    On increasing agro production and reducing waste, he said a lot needed to be done with other partners, noting that at present, the government used extension workers to educate farmers and those on the value chain.

    He said that the administration was also working with mango and yam producers in Benue for the preservation of the commodities.

    Earlier, Mr Ife Adebayo, the Special Assistant to the Vice President on Innovation, said that the event of the day started in 2016 when the government announced that it would support innovation.

    He said that the programme had made impacts in different fields, adding that innovators had got funding from different partners to move their products to higher levels.

    He said that the launch of the hubs in North East, South South and South East had reached advanced stages, adding that the national programme had attracted private patronage.

    He mentioned the Google Impact programme, which promised two million dollars to 12 startups with social impact, adding that the essence was to build a viable ecosystem.

  • Why I’m investing in Nigeria, by Dangote

    •Businessman hails govt’s economic growth plan

    DANGOTE Group President Aliko Dangote has explained that he decided to engage in strategic investments in Nigeria to complement the Federal Government’s economic recovery and growth plan.

    According to the businessman, his investments in agriculture and fertiliser production were in that direction.

    Dangote spoke at the weekend as the flagship of the conglomerate, the Dangote Cement Plc, began the training of newly engaged managers to sustain its leadership and competitiveness in the industry.

    He said the government’s decision at diversifying the economy from oil remained the viable solution to creating a healthy economy.

    The multi-billionaire noted that the private sector had important roles to play, which was why he took up the challenge to lead the way as a leading private sector operator.

    Dangote said it was because of his belief in the government approach at re-energising the economy and make it export-oriented that made him to step up his investment in agriculture, especially in the area of food sufficiency.

    Nigeria, he said, had wasted so much foreign exchange importing foods that ordinarily should be produced locally and even exported and that until a new approach at redirecting the economy from import-dependent to an export one, which the present government is leading, no meaningful changes can happen.

    “We have invested massively in rice, sugar, dairy products, and tomatoes. Our rice-out grower scheme will produce rice by next year and that will reduce our rice import to nearly zero because Nigeria imports more than half of the rice it consumes. We have expanded our sugar operations with our operations in Tonga in Nasarawa in addition to Numan sugar projects, where sugarcane is being planted for raw sugar production that will be refined.

    Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Dangote Cement Plc Joseph Makoju lauded the programme, saying it would support the overall drive of the conglomerate.

    Makoju said the management scheme was part of the effort of the conglomerate “to sustain our exponential growth, competitiveness and market leadership”.

    He said: “We are committed to attract top talents into our business for our current and future business needs.”

  • Dangote’s N10b for women in 774 councils

    THE Aliko Dangote Foundation has allocated N10 billion for the empowerment of vulnerable women in the 774 local government.

    A statement from the foundation said its chairman Aliko Dangote, gave the figures at the kick off of the empowerment programme at the Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi International Conference Centre in Minna, the Niger State capital.

    At the event, the foundation gave out micro-grants to 25,000 disadvantaged women in the state. This brings the total number of women beneficiaries to 256,500 across seven states.

    The statement said one thousand women were drawn from each of the Niger State’s 25 local government areas

    “The micro-grant programme is one component of the economic empowerment pillar of the foundation. It provides disadvantaged and vulnerable women with a one-off, unconditional N10,000 cash transfer to boost their household income generation. This, we believe, will help reduce their vulnerability and meet their livelihood needs,” the statement said.

    The foundation explained that the disbursement was started in 2012 with about 256,500 women benefitting from the programme across Kano, Lagos, Jigawa, Kogi, Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, with a total disbursement of N2.565 billion so far.

    Dangote noted that he “not only wants to be known as Africa’s richest man, but also as the biggest philanthropist”.

    “I will continue to use my resources and my voice to help shape a better Nigeria, and Africa as a whole,” he said.

    The foundation’s Executive Director and daughter of its chairman, Hajiya Halima Aliko Dangote, said the foundation was poised to help lift the status of womanhood in the country, adding: “If you empower a woman, you empower the whole nation.”

    She stated that women have always borne the brunt of the country’s harsh economic reality and the Aliko Dangote Foundation reasoned that they should be the target of such critical disbursements with the hope that the benefits will cascade down the family line.

    Managing Director of the foundation Zouera Yussouffou said the micro grant scheme was part of the four cardinal crust of the foundation, which are: health and nutrition, education, economic empowerment and disaster relief.

    She stated that the foundation has been delivering its core mandate across the four cardinal trusts in a strategic manner to ensure its objectives are fully achieved.

    Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly Ahmed Marafa hailed Dangote and urged the beneficiaries to use the grants to transform their lives.

    One of the beneficiaries, Rabi Ibrahim, said the grant would enable her to start trading in clothing, soap and perfume. She prayed God to continue to bless the Dangote’s family and his firms.

  • Photo: Ambode, Dangote, Otedola inspect projects

    Governor Ambode joined by billionaire Industrialist, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Mr. Femi Otedola on inspection of major projects in the Ibeju-Lekki-Epe axis including the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lekki Deep Seaport, Dangote jetty among others.

  • Dangote visits IBB in Minna

    Business Mogul Aliko Dangote yesterday visited former military President Ibrahim Babangida at his residence in Minna.

    Dangote was accompanied by his daughter Halima and her husband Alhaji Suleiman Bello. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Dangote was in the state capital to attend the launching and disbursement of Aliko Dangote Foundation N250 million micro grant to 25,000 vulnerable women in Minna.

    Dangote,  after attending the event at Justice Legbo Idris Conference Hall, Minna, was  accompanied by Niger State Governor Abubakar Bello, Senate Deputy Leader Bala Ibn Na’Allah and Chief of Staff to Governor Bello, Mr Mikail Bmitosahi, to the meeting with the former military leader.

  • Sultan, Sanusi, Dangote, Buratai, others grace Sheik Rabiu’s burial in Kano

    The remains of the Khalifa of the Tijjaniyya sect in West Africa and Khadimul Islam, Sheik Isiaka Rabiu, were committed to mother earth in Kano yesterday amid tears from thousands of sympathisers who thronged his palatial home at Goron Dutse in Dala Local Government Area of the state.

    The remains of the Sheik was brought before a large congregation of Islamic faithful in an ambulance at the Sheikh Muhammad Rabiu Mosque, named after his late father, Mohammadu Rabiu.

    The funeral prayer was led by Sheik Tijjani Aliyu Sisa, the Chief Imam of Kaulaha Mosque in Senegal, who stood in for Sheik Inyass before an unprecedented crowd that gathered at his residence, at exactly 2.33pm before he was finally buried at 2.45 pm.

    Sheik Rabiu died after a protracted illness at a London hospital on Monday at the age of 93 years.

    A well groomed Islamic scholar who had a memory of the Glorious Qur’an at the tender age of 14, he will be remembered for his doggedness in the pursuit of Islamic ideals and support for Qur’anic memorization.

    The Chief Imam of Kofar Mata, Sheikh Nasir Adam, described the late Khalifa as a dedicated and committed gentleman who served as an embodiment of justice, and a philanthropist to the core.

    As a close confidant to the late Sheik, the Chief Imam said the vacuum created by his death would be very difficult to fill.

    On his part, a business associate, Alhaji Sabiu Bako, described the late Rabiu as a very simple and humble reservoir of knowledge and, above all, a philanthropist who assisted most of the business tycoons in Kano and beyond to become what they are today.

    The late Rabiu was prominent as a result of his credential as someone who memorised the Glorious Qur’an at the age of 14; a feat that stood him out among his peers.

    Among those, who graced the funeral prayers were the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar; the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi 11; the Chief of Army Staff, Brigadier Yusuf Tuýkur Burutai; Kano State governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje; his deputy, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar; Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Muhammad Badaru Abubakar; the Chairman Dangote Group of Companies, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; former Speaker House of Representatives, Alhaji Gali Umar Na’abba and former Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido.

    Traditional rulers who attended the funerals included the Emir of Daura, Umar Farouk, and that of Ringim Sayyadi, Mahmoud Ringim, among others.

    The late Khalifa is survived by 42 children and so many grandchildren.

    The funeral prayer was conducted amidst tight security.