Vulnerable women and youths in the violence-torn Borno State, Nigeria’s North-East are the next in line to benefit from the special grants being awarded by business mogul, Aliko Dangote, to empower the mass of Nigerians so as to alleviate poverty at the grassroots.

The exercise is being coordinated by the Dangote Foundation. A statement issued in Lagos by Dangote Group indicated that women and youths from the 27 local governments in Borno State would be empowered to the tune of N540 million to enable them engage in businesses that can sustain them.

Dangote, who recently hosted American business mogul Bill Gates, who was in Nigeria on a mission to working out modalities with Dangote on how to eradicate polio in Nigeria and Africa, said he is fully committed to the empowerment of vulnerable groups at the grassroots because good health is a signpost of wealth.

“All necessary arrangements are being put in place to have the grants disbursed to them,” the statement, a copy of which was made available to News Express, said.

Already, Dangote Foundation has extended the grassroots poverty alleviation scheme to Kano, Adamawa, Yobe and Kogi with the disbursement of various amounts running into billions of naira to women and youths in the said states. The scheme is designed to cover the entire 774 local governments across the federation.

News Express recalls that the chairman of the Foundation, Aliko Dangote, had expressed concern over widespread poverty among the people, especially the youths and the women at the grassroots, and promised that his organisation would institute a scheme that would help in addressing the menace.

Consequently, the Dangote Foundation came up with a micro grant scheme aimed at empowering grassroots dwellers with funds to help them undertake petty trading as a way to help reduce youth unrest and social vices among under-privileged women.

In Adamawa, Dangote Foundation distributed grants amounting to N315 million to women and youths numbering 31,500 across the 21 local government areas of the state, while 34,000 people benefitted in Yobe State.

In Kano, women, mainly widows in each of the 44 local government areas, shared N600 million through a multi-purpose vehicle created by the state government to ensure smooth disbursement to the qualified women.

In Adamawa State, no less than 21,000 women in the 21 local government areas benefited from the largesse while 5,250 female youths and another 5,250 male youths were given a grant of N10,000 each

The programme, according to Mr. Dangote, will eventually cover at least 1,000 women in each of the 774 local governments in a bid to assist the federal government in the onerous task of poverty reduction by equipping this category of Nigerians with money to help them start a trade to improve family life.

Dangote explained that the Foundation’s efforts were meant to support government’s poverty eradication efforts with the earmarked grants in excess of N10 billion.

“We have chosen to partner with state governments to support women because in Nigeria, as in other developing countries, they bear the burden of poverty. And it is through their economic activities from the home, the market place or the farmlands that they keep the family, the community going meeting basic needs,” he said, adding:

“Our research at Dangote Foundation shows that just a little push can help establish, sustain or grow several types of economic activities by our women. We believe these small grants will improve the women’s businesses and the wellbeing of their families and communities. This is one of the goals of Dangote Foundation’s Community Development Services.”

Meanwhile, both Aliko Dangote and Bill Gates have disclosed that they are putting together a jumbo sum of $6 billion through the Private Sector Health Alliance to intensify their fight against polio by purchasing vaccines and other medical equipment to ensure total eradication of the disease from Africa.

Addressing newsmen at Ikeja after paying a courtesy call on the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, the duo said they have met President Goodluck Jonathan and the Health Alliance on the issue of eradicating polio from Nigeria and Africa. They disclosed that their ultimate ambition is to eradicate polio from the world, starting from Africa.

Dangote told newsmen that it was a thing of happiness that since the fight against polio commenced; there have been appreciable positive impact as Nigeria has dropped drastically in the rank of countries with high prevalence of the deadly disease.

Gates corroborated this when he said: “In the area of health, there is much progress. But there is a lot to be done. It is wonderful to have this state being in the lead of very high immunisation rate in reducing the child death rate. In our foundation and Dangote Foundation, we have been around the country to see how we can help you achieve health goals.

“Nigeria, as a whole, has a large number of children who do not get the vaccines that they need. As a result of that, the death rate is more than double. Some of the things we talked about today and some of the things we saw today including the vaccine chain barrier made case for improvement. We are committed and excited to help out and to work with you.”

•Photo shows Aliko Dangote.