Dangote Foundation initiates N4.2bn projects in Kano

Alhaji Aliko Dangote

Dangote Foundation says its philanthropic support to Kano State Government has reached N4.2bn.

The Chief Executive Officer of the foundation, Zouera Youssoufo, in a statement, says out of the N4.2bn, N1.2bn is spent annually on a feeding project, which is a special purpose vehicle designed to reduce hunger and extreme poverty among the downtrodden in the state.

Youssoufo was said to have disclosed this at a meeting with the state governor, Rabiu Kwakwanso, during a working visit to the state.

He said the foundation was in Kano to monitor the various ongoing projects as well as assess their stages of completion to ensure they were in conformity with the design and expectations of the people they were meant for.

“Dangote Foundation is a global institution and will not but ensure that all the projects are of international standard as some of the projects are being redesigned in line with new developments and realities,” she said.

According to Youssoufou, the foundation’s programme for women and other vulnerable groups in the state has taken up to N880m, with 88,000 women so far benefitting from it while the animal traction programme executed through a revolving loan to farmers is about N160m.

She noted that the foundation had contracted out the construction of borehole facilities for 220 communities across the 44 local government areas of the state at the cost of N110m.

“So far, she stated, the first set of 66 boreholes across six LGAs had been completed for the use of the people of the areas,” she added.

She said the collaboration between the foundation and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on routine immunisation and polio eradication in the state had also been successful.

Youssoufou disclosed that the foundation contributed over N600m to strengthen routine immunisation and primary health care over the last three years.

“In addition, about N72m contract has been awarded for the construction of 11 units of primary health care centres across 11 local government areas of Kano State,” she said.

She added that the foundation had also done a lot in the education sector, spending N55m in the ongoing construction of hostels at the Kano University of Technology, Wudil while the ongoing construction of the business school in Bayero University, Kano, is taking N524m from the foundation.

“We have commenced the construction of a state-of-the-art operating theatre and diagnostic centre at the Murtala Muhammad Hospital, Kano and it’s estimated at N440m. For students of the university in Wudil, we are currently building hostels that will cost us N55m,” she noted.