Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF), on Wednesday, empowered 16,000 women across the 16 local government areas of Kwara State.
Each of the 16,000 rural women was given N10,000 each, to help boost their petty trade and also start new businesses.
In all, a total of N16 million was given to the rural women in a funfair event, held in Moro Local Government area of Kwara State.
Deputy Governor of the state, who stood in for the Governor, Abdulraham Abdulrasaq, lauded the ADF empowerment programme and described it as part of the key economic tools needed to boost the socio-economic activities of the rural areas, and ultimately the state.
“This Aliko Dangote Foundation empowerment programme will impact positively on the socio-economic activity of our state. We are so pleased with this and cannot thank Aliko Dangote enough. We don’t want people to come and unnecessarily populate the urban areas, we want to encourage people to stay in the rural areas and add value to the respective lives and also to the state economy. This indeed is a noble gesture,” he said.
Dangote’s Group Executive Director, Government and Strategic Relations, Eng. Ahmed Mansur, who represented Aliko Dangote said: “To Aliko Dangote, whom much is given, much is expected. Dangote is being blessed by Allah and he enjoys sharing some of his blessings with the people around him. This investment in the rural areas will circulate well in this rural areas and also boost the economy of the state eventually…We are going to do this on all the local governments in Nigeria.
In the same vein, the Managing Director and Chief executive of ADF, Zouera Youssoufou, explained that the empowerment programme is an ongoing activity of the Foundation and that while some Local Governments have been covered already, all rural women in the local governments, across the the country will benefit from this noble gesture from Aliko Dangote.
