Dangote To Feed IDPs, Donates 2bn

The President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, while touring the Internally displaced persons camp in Dalori and Bakassi on Monday, made donations of N2 billion to persons who have been displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno State.

Dangote equally made a pledge to end malnutrition, hunger and starvation in the camps and other parts of the country and said the first set of N2 billion would be immediately disbursed towards ensuring that suffering across IDP camps is alleviated.

He said apart from the funds and food items that will be donated by his company through the Dangote Foundation, he would discover avenues to drive investments and production in the state in order to promote entrepreneurship and create opportunities for the people to work and earn a decent living in the course of time.

“This is not the first time I am coming here and it will not be the last. So far, we have expended about N1.2 billion in efforts to alleviate the suffering of IDPs across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States.

“The first major challenge is the physiological needs of these people, and food, nutrition rank right on top of that ladder. So we will first make serious effort to ensure that hunger is eliminated from the IDP camps and thereafter, we will begin to make effort to create jobs and boost entrepreneurship.

“The effort to create jobs and boost enterprise in this case will not be about making money or returning investment, rather it will be primarily to create opportunities for the people,” he said.

Dangote expressed concern over the living conditions of the estimated 1.7 million people displaced in the state, making it the third in the world with the highest number of displaced persons after Syria and Afghanistan.

Speaking at the event, the governor of the state, Kashim Shettima, conveyed the gratitude of the government and people of the state to the Dangote Group for its concern for the predicament of the people of his state who he said had suffered unimaginable devastation.

“Words are not enough to say how grateful we are and we must thank Aliko Dangote. In this crisis, he has stood with us firmly. Initially he gave us N400,000,000 to alleviate the suffering of our people and it was given to 40,000 people in Borno.

“Our people are in dire straits and there is only so much that we can do with our limited resources. But you have done so much for us, you have given money, you have given food – spaghetti, rice, sugar and so on. Only Allah will compensate you,” Shettima said.