Minister Rejects Dangote’sRamadan Gifts forVulnerable, DisplacedPersons
Minister Rejects Dangote’sRamadan Gifts forVulnerable, DisplacedPersons
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory
(FCT), Alhaji Muhammad Bello, has reportedly
turned down food items donated by the Dangote
Foundation for the Internally Displaced Persons
(IDP) in Abuja.
The Foundation, according to a THISDAY
sugar, salt, spaghetti, rice, danvita, and wheat
meal worth millions of naira to the minister’s
office yesterday but was bluntly rejected by
him.
All entreaties to make him realise that the items
are meant for distribution to the needy like
those in the IDP camps fell on deaf ears as
Bello was said to have stated that he was not
hungry and didn’t solicit for any donations.
In a swift reaction, however, the Special Adviser
to the FCT Minister on Media, Mr. Abubakar
Sani, said there was no truth in the report that
the FCT Administration (FCTA) rejected the
purported gift from Dangote Foundation to the
IDPs.
According to Sani, “FCTA is not aware of any
donations and therefore, not in the position to
neither reject nor accept the said gift items.
“I asked who saw the said gifts and the answer
was no one did,” he said.
In the same vein, the Director of Public
Relations, National Emergency Management
Agency (NEMA), Abuja Office, Mr. Ishaya
Chonoko, also said that the agency was not
aware of such donations.
Chonoko said: “If the normal procedure was
followed, we should be aware of such donations,
but as far as we are concerned, no donations of
such was made, at least to the best of our
knowledge.”
The Foundation owned by the richest man in
Africa, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, as part of its
mandate to give especially in the holy month of
Ramadan for the indigent and the vulnerable in
the society, has the tradition of donating money
and food materials to the less privileged and
victims of other disasters across the country.
“The Ramadan supplies are delivered to the 36
states, including the FCT yearly and the
governors assign a contact person to receive
the items which are delivered in trucks on
behalf of the governor before distribution to the
identified beneficiaries by the state
government,” an official of the Foundation who
did not want to be named said.
Sources close to the Foundation in Lagos
insisted that the FCT Minister did reject the
donation to the surprise of the representatives
of the Foundation even when it was explained
to him that it was for the less privileged.
Informed sources at the minister’s office
indicated that the letter for the donation came
while the minister was having a meeting with
his directors and they all corroborated the fact
that the donation was an annual gift from
Dangote Foundation for the less privileged but
he would not listen to any explanation as he
insisted the food items be returned.
Some residents of the FCT expressed dismay at
the action of the minister as they condemned
his disposition to the plights of the IDPs who
the items were meant for and were actually on
the lookout for it having been informed earlier
that the foundation would soon put smiles on
their faces.
Callers at the FCT Secretariat at Area 11, it was
gathered, were said to be very displeased on
hearing of the minister’s rejection of the items,
which they believed would have made the IDPs
in the Abuja camp feel the good side of
Ramadan.
According to them, the reason behind the
minister’s rejection of the food items cannot be
justified because those in the IDPs’ camp are
hungry and some of them are dying because
government could not cater for all their needs.
A Dangote Foundation source confirmed that as
at the time of filing this report, about 31 states
had already taken deliveries of their items and
some had started the distribution. It was learnt
that 106 trucks of food items are on their way
to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital in
fulfilment of Dangote’s promise to make this
Ramadan fulfilling for the IDPs in the states.
The latest donation of food items was coming
shortly after the Foundation donated N2 billion
for the rehabilitation of the IDPs in various
camps in Borno State.
The source said the Dangote Foundation had in
the past supported victims of disasters with
monetary and food items. Food items were
donated to the victims of post 2011 elections
violence in some parts of the north, while
victims of flood disaster across the country
were also helped with various food items and
other relief materials.
According to him, the Foundation also took its
charity abroad when in 2015, donated $1 million
to support the government of Nepal to
rehabilitate the victims of two devastating earth
quakes that ravaged the country that year in
quick succession.
The Foundation also donated $500,000 to the
government of the Republic of Niger to support
victims of meningitis outbreak in the country.
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