He said that Dangote has been a very key partner of the Gates Foundation in funding global health.
Speaking ahead of the release of the 2018 Bill and Melinda Gates Annual Letter to a group of journalists from different African countries in a telephone conference, he said that he was amazed by the contribution of Aliko Dangote to global health; both with his resources and his time.
Gates had been asked what he would say to convince billionaires in Nigeria to consider the commonwealth in their country instead of acquiring wealth and stashing it offshore.
The second richest man in the world, according to the latest ranking by Forbes magazine, replied: “In the entire world, Mr. Dangote has been a very key partner of the Gates Foundation in funding global health. And the big challenge of improving the primary healthcare, particularly in the North, I know we would not have a chance of doing that without him.
“I have had a chance to meet with other Nigerians but, in fact, he is the only one who I am personally aware of his significant activities that is working in this key sector. There may be other people working in sectors like education or other environments that we don’t work in.
“Just last month, he and I spent six hours on video conferences with six of the northern states where we, twice a year, check in with them and look at their primary healthcare quality in terms of the staff, the location, the supply chain and the results they are getting in terms of vaccination and other interventions,” the Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation said.
Gates added that Aliko Dangote who has been an incredible partner in Nigeria works with the Gates Foundation on things like nutrition and the primary healthcare.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote has in the last ten years not only remained on the top as African’s richest and most outstanding industrialist, but he has clearly remained the most outstanding philanthropist in Nigeria and on the continent of Africa.
Recently, he donated a N1.2 billion modern business school edifice to the Bayero University, Kano.
The business school is said to be the first in the northern part of the country.
Christened Dangote Business School, the business mogul said that talks were ongoing to affiliate the school with Harvard Business School of the United States of America.
He said the business school, which was opened by the Kano State Governor, Abdulahi Ganduje, was conceived as part of his contributions to the development of entrepreneurship education in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Aliko Dangote, who at different times, has said that he does not want to be known only as Africa’s richest man, but also as the continent’s most generous philanthropist, had in 1993, incorporated the Dangote Foundation, which has now become the largest private foundation in sub Saharan Africa, with the largest endowment by a single African donor.
The Foundation has contributed over $250 million in charitable funds to several causes in Nigeria and Africa over the past four years.
The activities of the Foundation revolve around the four pillars of health, economic empowerment, education and disaster relief.
