Olushola Omogbehin
The daughter of Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa has disclosed that her father will donate one-third of his wealth to charity.
In an interview with Bloomberg which Punch published on Tuesday, Halima Dangote who is a trustee of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, revealed that the billionaire had secured his family’s support to dedicate 33 per cent of his estate to philanthropy.
Bloomberg Billionaires Index said Dangote’s net worth is estimated at $35.1 billion, which means that one-third of his current fortune would amount to about $11.7 billion if maintained at that level.
According to Halima, Dangote sees philanthropy as the hallmark of his legacy and has embedded it into the family’s long-term succession plans.
“He sort of put all the structure in place whereby we focus a lot on health and education. He actually donated 25 per cent to the foundation. If you look at it, it is what we call in Sharia Code in Islam; it means he has donated 33 per cent of his whole inheritance to his foundation,” she said.
“That is how important it is to him because philanthropy needs to be in existence generation after generation. So giving back is part and parcel of what we do. We believe we’re here, that our business is successful because of the giving back and because of the philanthropic aspect. That is why the 33 per cent is important.
“And that is why he made an announcement and he asked myself, my two sisters and his mother to sign under that will that he is able to give that 33 per cent to humanity.”
Explaining further, Halima said the planned donation builds on Dangote’s existing philanthropic work through the Aliko Dangote Foundation which was established in 1994.
Endowed with $1.25 billion about a decade ago and received an additional $700 million in funding, Halima said about 70 per cent of the foundation’s spending is directed to Nigeria, while 20 per cent supports projects across Africa and the remainder funds initiatives in other parts of the world.
Focusing its intervention on health, education, nutrition and humanitarian relief, the foundation partners with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and state governments in northern Nigeria that contributed to the eradication of wild poliovirus in Africa.
