Photo Caption: From left, Managing Director/CEO, Aliko Dangote Foundation, Zouera Youssoufou; Photo Caption: Founder/Chairman, Aliko Dangote Foundation, Aliko Dangote; Niger State Governor, Alhaji Dr. Abubakar Sani Bello; Trustee, Aliko Dangote Foundation, Halima Aliko-Dangote; Acting Group Managing Director, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Engr. Abdullahi Sule; and Niger State House of Assembly Speaker, Marafa Ahmed, at the launching/disbursement of N250M to 25,000 vulnerable women in Niger State.

A total of 25,000 disadvantaged women got a total of N250m from the Aliko Dangote Foundation at the weekend as part of a one-off unconditional Micro-grants Programme in Niger State.
This brings the total number of women beneficiaries to 256,500 across seven states of across Kano, Lagos, Jigawa, Kogi, Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, since disbursement started in 2012, with a total disbursement of N2.565bn.
Dangote, President of Dangote Industries Limited, is chairman of Dangote Cement, Dangote Flour Mills, Dangote Sugar Refinery and NASCON Allied, all of which are listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Speaking at the flag-off ceremony at the Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi International Conference Centre, Minna, the Niger State capital, chairman of the foundation, Aliko Dangote said N10bn for the empowerment of vulnerable women in the 774 Local Governments in the country.
He said one thousand women were drawn from each of the 25 local government areas of Niger state.
“The Micro-grants programme is one component of the Economic Empowerment pillar of the Foundation. It provides disadvantaged and vulnerable women with a one-off, unconditional N10,000.00 cash transfer to boost their household income generation. This we believe will help reduce their vulnerability and meet their livelihood needs,” he added.
Dangote said: “I do not only want to be known as the Africa’s Richest Man, but the biggest philanthropist. I will continue to use my resources and my voice to help shape a better Nigeria, and Africa as a whole.”
Also speaking at the occasion, the state governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, appreciated the gesture of Dangote for touching the lives of ordinary Nigerians, especially vulnerable women.
The governor extolled the foundation for the generosity extended to poor women in his state and urged them to use it to start small businesses so the Foundation would be pleased to do more.
The foundation’s Executive Director, Halima Aliko Dangote, spoke of the determination to help lift the status of woman in the country, because “if you empower a woman, you empower the whole nation.”
She said women have always borne the brunt of the harsh economic reality in the country and the Aliko Dangote Foundation reasoned that they should be the target of such critical intervention as the disbursement with the hope that the benefits will cascade down the family line with women as the maker of the home and improve the family wellbeing.
Managing Director of the Foundation, Zouera Yussouffou said the micro grant scheme was part of the four-cardinal crust of the Foundation which are: Health and Nutrition, Education, Economic Empowerment and Disaster Relief.
She added that the Foundation has been delivering its core mandate across the four cardinal trusts in a strategic manner that ensures its objectives clearly marked out are fully achieved