By Lukman Olabiyi, Lagos

Aliko Dangote, Nigeria’s leading business figure, has generously contributed 80,000 bags of 10kg rice to support the vulnerable and underprivileged in Lagos State.

The philanthropic act was carried out through the Aliko Dangote Foundation Food Intervention Programme at the Lagos House in Ikeja.

Dangote, who attended the event, was joined by Femi Otedola, the chairman of Geregu Power Station.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu expressed his gratitude towards Dangote for his compassionate response to the struggles faced by the residents of Lagos amidst the prevailing economic challenges.

“The donation of the rice has demonstrated what Dangote stands for, which is to show humanity,” Sanwo-Olu said.

The governor called on the private sector to emulate Dangote in partnering with the government to alleviate the hardship of the people.

“Others of similar minds should rise up and emulate Dangote. The current situation calls for efforts from private organisations to come forward and be part of this,” Sanwo-Olu added.

Related News

During his speech, Dangote highlighted that for the past three decades, the foundation has been offering aid to Muslims throughout Ramadan. Nevertheless, considering the current economic difficulties faced by Nigerians, the decision was made to broaden this support to include all citizens, regardless of their religious affiliation.

He also highlighted that although the foundation had previously distributed bags of rice to the residents of Kano last week, the donation made to Lagos was the most significant.

He noted that a total of One million bags of rice would be donated to the 36 states of the federation by the foundation which would be shared with all the 774 local governments across the country by the end of the Ramadan period.

The Group Executive Director, Commercial Operation, Dangote Industries Limited, Fatima Dangote said the rice would be distributed to the needy.

“We have been doing this for a while but we didn’t publicize it because our chairman believes this is between him and God but this year we decided to publicize it so that we can encourage and inspire others to do so. This is something that others need to put their hands on to ease the tough times,” she said.

She added: “There are many other things the Dangote Foundation is also doing. We are also serving 2,500 bread all over Lagos daily. We started this in 2020 since COVID-19 and there is no way we can pull out of this.”

The Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya said the donation came at the right time ‘ because things have been difficult for Nigerians.’

“ We can not do this alone, we need the private sector to collaborate with us,” she said.