Relief may have come the way of the flood victims as prominent Nigerians and institutions yesterday donated cash into the special fund set up by the Federal Government.
Business mogul, Aliko Dangote, who is a co-Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation (PCFRR), led the pack when he made a donation of N2.5 billion and another N150 million for the running of the secretariat of the PCFRR.
This philanthropic gesture did not escape the mention of President Goodluck Jonathan, as he described Dangote as a rare-breed that is always willing to give back to the society.
The President of Dangote Group who had earlier donated N200 million to the Kogi State Government during his visit to the flood ravaged areas in the state, said it was the responsibility of Nigerians to bring smiles to the faces of the victims.
President Jonathan at a fund raising dinner held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa had in his address of welcome, lamented the unpleasant situation the victims have been subjected to, which necessitated intervention by the Federal Government with the release of N17.6 billion.
While urging Nigerians to respond to the call to help the flood victims, he said though the nation had witnessed several natural disasters in the past, none could be compared with the recent ones across the states.
The President noted that the rampaging flood had rendered millions of citizens homeless, in addition to the scores of lives lost to the flood, while property and farmlands have been destroyed.
“Economic activities in the highly impacted area have also been affected. Although the economic losses are difficult to quantify at the moment, there are indications that they may be higher than our projections. We have witnessed several natural disasters in the past, none of them compares to what we currently experience in scale and scope,” President Jonathan said.
He said he had a first-hand experience of the flood during his recent tour of some of the affected states and was shocked by the extent of devastation caused and the plight of the victims, who are exposed to the inclement consequences.
Dangote said his visit to Kogi State was an eye opener, saying that “sometimes, we need to have the genuine experience of deprivation and poverty in order to appreciate the need to be our brother’s keeper. We should be problem solvers and ready to make people happy when the opportunity comes. Nobody says ‘thank you’ for growing a profitable company, but people will say ‘thank you’ when you give.”
While urging other Nigerians to donate generously to the cause, Dangote said the soul of business is not making money but making people happy.
“I believe that people make the difference—and not the balance sheet. We impact positively on the lives of the people, not by how much money we have accumulated, but by how much goodwill we have accumulated.”
Assuring that every kobo donated would be put into judicious use, Dangote said the fund would be transparently managed and that as part of the transparency drive, the amount contributed or pledged will be displayed on a website: www.nigeriafloodrelief.org created to monitor the donations and the use they are being put into.
To boost the donations, Dangote challenged the telecoms operators to consider donating N1 for every SMS sent through their network, to the victims in order to help ameliorate their condition.
