Dangote Pledges N1billion To States Worst-hit By Boko Haram

Borno, which is the worst-hit, will get N500 million from Dangote’s donation while Adamawa and Yobe will share the balance
Aliko Dangote, the Chairman of Dangote Groups, has promised to assist the three states – Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe – worst hit by the Boko Haram insurgents with N1 billion.

The minister of state for agriculture, Alhaji Bukar Tijani, who made the disclosure when he visited Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno, noted that the donation was the business mogul’s contribution to help in cushioning the effects of the sect’s attack in the states.

Boko Haram is waging a way against western education and seeks to create an Islamist state in the country. In recent years, it grew bolder in its attacks forcing President Goodluck Jonathan to declare a state of emergency in the three worst-hit Northern states on May 14.

Troops in the states claimed the security situation in these states has improved. Critics, however, believe an attack on a boarding school in Mamudo, a village in Yobethat left 29 students and a teacher dead after being shot and set ablaze, showed otherwise. Three weeks after the incident, the military lifted an embargo on telecommunication services it imposed in Borno and Yobe as part of its strategies in the crackdown on the Islamists.

To cushion the effects of both the Boko Haram attacks and the operations of troops detailed to the states, the Jonathan-led administration donated N450 million to Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe.

Tijani was in Maiduguri, where he met Governor Shettima, to kick of the distributionof funds and the distribution of 650 truck-loads of relief materials worth over N1billion approved by President Jonathan Goodluck to the three states.

According to the minister, the N450 million will be shared N200 million, N150 million, and N100 million to
Borno, Adamawa and Yobe respectively.

Speaking on the N1 billion donation by Dangote, he said Borno, which is the worst-hit, will get N500 million from Dangote’s donation while Adamawa and Yobe will sharethe balance.

Responding, Governor Shettima assured the minister that the money would be used for the good of the people of the state.