Succour came the way of hundreds of widows and persons with disabilities in Borno State when Dangote Foundation over the weekend commenced the disbursement of micro grants to vulnerable women and youths in the state to the tune of N540 million.

The grants disbursement was flagged off by the Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, and his wife, Hajiya Nana Shettima, at Government House, Maiduguri. It saw about 700 beneficiaries comprising widows, youths and blind persons, filing out to receive the grants that would reduce the hardship faced by the most vulnerable in communities most affected by the insurgency in the state.

Alhaji Shettima commended Dangote for “standing by the people of Borno State in their hour of need” and for his support that would further strengthen his government’s poverty alleviation programmes that will help the people to go into petty businesses and reduce the burden of the times.

Impressed by the conduct of the beneficiaries, Alhaji Shettima announced the appointment of Emir of the Blind in Maiduguri, Mai Bukar Abacha, as Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on People with Disabilities.

Speaking on behalf of Aliko Dangote at the ceremony, the Managing Director of Dangote Foundation, Dr. Adhiambo Odaga, said the initiative was borne out of concern for the plight of the people in the state. She explained that the micro grants were meant to go round all local governments in the country as a way of contributing to the upliftment of their standard of living and helping the state governments in the task of reducing poverty among the vulnerable women and youths.

Dangote Foundation, according to Odaga, earmarked N540 million to fund 54,000 micro-grants across Borno State’s 27 local government areas as part of the special disbursement of N1.195 billion to support three affected states across Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. She thanked Borno State Government for its support in ensuring the success of the programme.

Also speaking, wife of the Governor and founder of SWOT Foundation, Hajiya Nana Shettima, thanked Dangote Foundation for it intervention and for ensuring that persons with disabilities were given priority as beneficiaries of the micro-grants in the state. She encouraged other well-meaning stakeholders to join the efforts to make widows, orphans, the disabled, and other vulnerable people financially self-reliant.

After the flag-off ceremony at Government House, a similar event took place at the palace of the Shehu of Borno, Dr. Abubakar Umar Ibn Garbai El-Kanemi, where Dr. Odaga conveyed the assurances of Alhaji Dangote’s regards to the first class traditional ruler.

The Shehu of Borno, who spoke about the difficult times occasioned by the insurgency, thanked Alhaji Aliko Dangote and his Foundation for the timely intervention even as peace is being secured across the state.

News Express reports that the Dangote Foundation Micro-Grants Programme is providing one-off N10,000 cash transfers to at least 1,000 poor and vulnerable Nigerians in each of the country’s 774 local governments. It is being implemented in partnership with state governments to ensure proper selection of beneficiaries and also to complement and align with on-going poverty reduction programmes.

Dangote Foundation’s micro-grants enable recipients to grow or start an enterprise, invest in productive assets, improve the health of their families, and/or take on new activities that reduce their vulnerability and enhance the economic standing of their households and communities. To date, 177,500 women and 19,000 youth in Kano, Jigawa, Kogi, Adamawa and Yobe states have benefitted from this initiative.

•Photo shows Alhaji Aliko Dangote.

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