The Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) has pledged to provide grants totaling $3.06 million to 106,000 women across northern Nigeria before the end of 2019.
The initiative scheme is in continuation of a micro-grant programme aimed at poverty amelioration through economic empowerment of women.
In a statement issued on Monday, the foundation said it has already embarked on identifying eligible beneficiaries towards the implementation of the programme across four northern Nigerian states – Sokoto, Katsina, Kebbi and Zamfara.
The Aliko Dangote Foundation launched the Micro-Grant scheme in 2011 with a $30 million endowment. The scheme provides recipients with a one-time, unconditional N10, 000 ($30) cash grant to meet immediate household consumption and economic needs. The scheme also trains participants in various income-generating activities. The programme targets indigenous and vulnerable women across the country and is being systematically rolled out to cover every corner of the country.Today In: Billionaires
“Beneficiaries of this programme are evenly selected from the target communities with primary consideration for vulnerable women, food distressed household with infant or children under-five-year-old, disabled, divorcee, widows with multiple dependents, extremely poor residents in these communities,” the statement said.
So far, 334,500 women and youths have benefitted from the programme across Kano, Jigawa, Kogi, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Lagos, Nasarawa and Niger States. The programme is executed in collaboration with state governments to complement their economic empowerment and poverty reduction efforts across the country.
Africa’s richest man is also one of its most generous philanthropists. His Dangote Foundation, which is endowed with $1.25 billion, has given tens of millions of dollars over the years to causes in education, arts, health and human relief. He also recently gifted $20 million to The Africa Center, a Manhattan-based nonprofit, nonpartisan, multidisciplinary institution that aims to explore the continent through cultural, business and public- policy programming.